Paperless parking changeover begins

New paperless parking meters are being installed around the city from next week as Christchurch City Council moves to a ‘pay by plate’ system.

All 240 Pay and Display meters will be upgraded over the next five weeks to a new system where people enter their number plate into the machine and simply make a payment without having to return to their car with a paper ticket.

Transport Operations Manager Aaron Haymes with one of the new parking meters.

Christchurch City Council Transport Operations Manager Aaron Haymes said the upgrade of the machines would be rolled out block-by-block, starting on Monday.

“We need to upgrade the parking meter payment system to bring it up to international security standards. We’re also taking the opportunity to move from the outdated pay and display system to pay-by-plate, which allows us to take advantage of new technology to manage parking,” Mr Haymes said.

“The flexible payment options and the fact that users can immediately continue on their journey after paying provides a quicker, more efficient experience for them.”

The Pay and Display upgrade will save the production of over 1.5 million paper tickets each year, saving 800 kilograms of paper from entering the Christchurch waste stream. It will also result in operational savings of around $50,000 a year.

“During the upgrade period we will have parking wardens on the street to help people with the new system. One tip we would give people is to take a photo of your number plate on your phone, so that you always have it with you. That way when you exit the car and walk down to the meter, you don’t need to walk back to the car to get the number plate as you go to pay. You’ve always got it with you,” Mr Haymes said.

The role of parking wardens would remain the same but instead of checking paper tickets on dashboards they would check the number plates of parked vehicles against those customers have entered into the machines.

ENDS

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