RFID Gate Access for Residential Parking
Gate access is at the intersection of safety, security and convenience for multi-family residential properties. High-rise apartment buildings, suburban apartment complexes and gated communities all have unique requirements for managing the flow and identification of vehicles on and off their property. RFID access systems provide a simple solution for traffic flow among residents, employees and visitors.
RFID access for city living: Secure and convenient garage access
Most urban apartment buildings have their parking lots under their residences, whether that is in an underground lot or the first few floors of the building. Other than the lobby doors, then, vehicle entrances are the building’s main point of access. Vehicle access and even pedestrian access into these spaces are, therefore, a major point of safety and security for the residents.
RFID-enabled decals overcome a recurring vulnerability in building access: unauthorized transfers. Hangtags, swipe cards and clickers can all be loaned out to friends or visitors. Residents can run downstairs, swipe or click somebody in, and then go back up.
RFID decals on the windshield of a car have a built-in “self-destruct mechanism”: if a resident tried to remove it and give it to a friend, they would destroy it. The friend would not be able to get in, and the resident would have to explain just what they were trying to do when they come to the office and ask for another.
On top of that, there’s no chance of losing, misplacing or dropping it, so residents have one less worry and you don’t need to worry about who might pick it up.
Ultra-high frequency RFID vehicle access systems also allow for greater physical security with less infrastructure at a building.
Most parking garages have a “scan station” with a retractable arm. Not only can someone just walk right past these, they are exposed to vandalism, extreme weather or car accidents. They also create a bottleneck at the entrance to the building. If several cars arrive at about the same time, they will end up queuing across the sidewalk and into the street. This presents an annoyance and a hazard for pedestrians who try to dodge between the cars, and for cyclists in the bike lane that is being blocked by cars waiting to get in. And it takes out a lane of traffic and causes merges and lane shifts at the time of day that every lane is already busiest.
With a UHF access system, high-rise apartment buildings can have a fully closed garage door. As a resident’s car approaches the entrance, the garage door rises and is fully open by the time the car turns in.
No stopping, no bottlenecking, no traffic impact.
If several cars are arriving one after another, the RFID system will register each arrival, keeping the garage door open. Any pedestrian entering the garage at this time could be noticed by the drivers, and by security staff who would know when the garage door is open. Additionally, installing a license plate reader with the RFID system will tell you everything you need to know about any car that tries to slip in between two residents.
RFID gate access secures the value of residential communities
Secure access and streets that do not carry through-traffic are among the leading reasons people choose to move into gated communities. Because they have relatively few entrances and those entrances have some sort of access control, they can present as much of a rush hour bottleneck as an urban apartment building.
RFID parking systems provide all the same benefits to residents of gated communities as other multifamily housing properties. Vendor and contractor arrivals, though, present a different challenge.
Only a limited number of vendors and contractors need access to apartment buildings. Regular maintenance is performed by employees – who have their own entrances and access badges – and the apartment building has their roster of contractors to do the specialized work.
Depending on the regulations of the homeowners’ association, though, residents in a gated community may all choose different providers to do their work.
On a given day, six different electricians and three different roofing contractors may be in the community. This leads to the classic situation where the harried security guard is checking through clipboards full of paperwork to verify a contractor’s access while traffic builds up, the homeowner gets impatient and the contractor is in a mood before he even arrives.
With RFID-enabled gate security integrated into the communities’ digital infrastructure, residents can enter their visitors’ information – whether the visitor is a friend or a contractor – into the security system. When the visitor arrives, security personnel issues a guest RFID pass that will log them in and out of the property. Depending on how far the HOA wants to go with security, they can even install RFID readers around the premises to keep an eye on where else those guest passes show up.
RFID solves common gate access and vehicle ID problems
Any large property is going to have a large parking lot, which can quickly become a large parking and traffic problem. RFID gate access controls and vehicle identification systems eliminate many of regular problems that arise from vehicles coming on and off the property. By doing so, they enhance the safety, security and convenience of the property for the residents, and therefore the value for the owners and managers.
WW&L has developed RFID access solutions for properties of all sizes across a range of industries. Let us know how you’d like to improve your parking and traffic situation, and we’ll sit down to talk about how RFID can be part of the answer your need. If you are looking for a quick, long-range RFID solution, check out our NEDAP Transit reader.