Palmerston North has become home to what may be the world’s
most high-tech carpark, where the amount drivers pay depends on how many spaces
are available.
The 33-space carpark in the city’s Church Street has been kitted out with
solar-powered sensors by local parking technology firm Frogparking that can
tell which parks are occupied. Drivers pay for parking through their
smartphone.
Frogparking has been providing ticketless parking systems to
Palmerston North for a few years, but director Don Sandbrook said the new
system was its most advanced yet, with cheaper parking if there were lots of
spaces available and higher prices if they were nearly all taken. The tariff
ranges from 50 cents to $2 an hour.
Regular patrons can use a GPS-enabled windscreen tag that
will automatically bill their credit card, but there is no cash option.
Sandbrook said there was plenty of on-street parking nearby
for “little old ladies” who found the technology complicated. “If you don’t
have a smartphone, we don’t want you to park in the carpark.”
He believed everyone would be paying for all parking by
smartphone within 10 years. “There will be no other way.”
Drivers pay only for the time they are parked and local
retailers can send codes to customers’ smartphones that entitle them to have
their parking fees refunded if they take up shopping offers.
A local cafe, Cafe Moxies, has been the first to do that,
but three other retailers are offering parkers in-store discounts.
Sandbrook said Palmerston North could become the “world’s
innovation hub” for the parking industry and help cities around the world
revive their retail centres.
- © Fairfax NZ News
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