Citi Partners with Streetline and IBM to Provide $25 Million Financing for Cities to Adopt Smart Parking Technology
Citi, IBM and Streetline, Inc. today announced a $25 million Citi credit facility extended to Streetline, in collaboration with IBM, to fund innovation in parking and help transform cities for the future.
- (1888PressRelease) April 10, 2012 - As the majority of the world’s population moves to metropolitan areas, key city systems, including city streets and parking resources, are being strained to the breaking point. Additionally, vehicle emissions and drivers looking for parking are so closely linked that a year-long study found that motorists in a 15 block district in Los Angeles drove in excess of 950,000 miles, produced 730 tons of carbon dioxide and used 47,000 gallons of gas searching for parking.*
The collaboration between Citi, IBM, and Streetline aims to provide a funding source to bring new technology and smarter parking to cities around the globe. The financing will enable cities to acquire smart parking technology at no initial upfront cost—thereby facilitating adoption and deployment of the latest in parking advancements. Through this relationship, cities will now have the option to adopt Streetline’s cloud-based smart parking solutions on a pay-as-you-go basis.
“City leaders must harness the possibilities of technology and new financial thinking to address critical efficiency reform, modernize urban infrastructure, and provide socially inclusive access to public services,” said Ward Marsh, Managing Director and Manager, Municipal Securities Division, Citi. “With its global footprint, Citi has a unique perspective on the complexities of the urban environment and the financial challenges facing Mayors and municipal CFOs. Working in collaboration with Streetline and IBM, we intend to help cities continue to rethink how they can optimize parking as an important source of revenue.”
With sensors and applications from Streetline and analytics technologies and “Smarter Cities” expertise from IBM, cities can tap historical and real-time data to help them gain a better understanding of the
interdependencies between parking and their overall transportation network with other city services. Such knowledge is critical in planning for economic development, merchant services, mass transit scheduling and infrastructure projects, among other key city functions.
Streetline’s patented smart parking platform detects the presence of a car through a network of ultra-low power wireless sensors located in individual parking spaces. This information is then made available in real time both to the city, as well as to consumers via Parker™, the leading consumer guidance app for smartphones, tablets, personal computers and – soon – in-car navigation systems, available free via the iTunes Store or Android marketplace.
“Today, there is a massive amount of transportation data available that can help cities alleviate congestion and improve transportation services, such as parking,” said Gerry Mooney, general manager, Smarter Cities, IBM. “Our partnership with Streetline is already leading the effort toward helping cities re-think parking. Citi is joining our collaboration as we seek to work closer with municipal CFOs to consider innovative ways to optimize parking revenue and deploy new smart parking solutions.”
“Parking is one of those universal challenges that most people around the globe can relate to,” said Zia Yusuf, president and CEO of Streetline. “This credit facility provides Streetline the financial resources to fuel further innovation in parking and accelerate the adoption of new parking solutions by cities around the globe. The support from global institutions such as Citi and IBM is a testament to Streetline’s market leadership and provides additional validation of the importance of smart parking and the traction we are experiencing."
About Citi
Citi, the leading global bank, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management.
Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com | Twitter: ( @ ) Citi | YouTube: www dot youtube dot com/citi | Blog: http://new dot citi dot com | Facebook: www dot facebook dot com/citi | LinkedIn:www dot linkedin dot com/company/citi
About Citi for Cities
Citi for Cities is an initiative that harnesses the best of Citi across the globe to enable cities to become more efficient, by providing financing that facilitates commerce and modernization, and by empowering citizens to access services that enhance liveability and prosperity. Citi aims to help cities achieve their ambitions across the key ecosystems that power a city including administration, roads and transit, ports of entry, energy and utilities, workplace and education, health and safety and regeneration and development. Citi's span of engagement with cities includes public and private sector, the financial sector and citizens and the communities in which they live. For more information, please visitwww.citiforcities.com.
Recognizing the rapid growth of the city as an economic driver, Citi commissioned The Economist’s business research branch, the Economist Intelligence Unit, to research and compile a comprehensive report and index of 120 of the world’s most competitive cities. For more information on the report, visit: http://citigroup.com/citi/citiforcities/urban_exchange/eiu.htm
About IBM and Smarter Transportation
IBM (NYSE: IBM) works with cities, governments and others around the world to make their transportation systems smarter. Smarter transportation systems can help traffic and public transit systems flow more smoothly, anticipate and improve congestion in advance, reduce emissions and increase the capacity of infrastructure.
To join in the conversation on Smarter Transportation, join us on LinkedIn and Twitter. Visit here for more on IBM and Smarter Transportation.
About Streetline, Inc.
Streetline’s mission is to make smart cities a reality through the use of sensor-enabled mobile and web applications. As the leading global provider of smart parking solutions for cities, airports, universities, private garages, and consumers, Streetline’s pioneering technology connects citizens with critical information to improve the way they live and work, while making cities more efficient and lessening their environmental impact.
Streetline is a privately held company headquartered in Foster City, Calif. with smart-parking deployments in California, Indianapolis, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Texas, Virginia and Washington D.C. The company was recently named one of Fast Company’s 10 Most Innovative Companies in Transportation, as well as IBM Global Entrepreneur of the Year.
For more information please visit, www.streetline.com
*Based on 2007 study by Professor Donald Shoup, University of California, Los Angeles
Meredith Hannon
IBM Media Relations
512-470-3285
merhannon ( @ ) us dot ibm dot com
Shannon Wilsey
Spark PR for Streetline, Inc.
415-962-8200 ext. 212
Danielle Romero-Apsilos
Citi
212-816-2264
danielle.romeroapsilos ( @ ) citi dot com
shannon ( @ ) sparkpr dot com
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