Only new coins now in parking machines

27 October 2006

Old coins can no longer be used in city parking machines.

With the phasing out of the old 5,10,20 and 50 cent coins, only the new coins introduced earlier this year will now work in the machines. The old coins will be ejected from the machines.

Council project manager Neil Gillon says many vending machines had been modified to accept only new coins at the time the new coins had been introduced.

"However we preferred to give a lead-in time before accepting only the new coins, so people could have time to adapt to the new parking machines and to the methods of payment,’’ says Mr Gillon.

"Drivers can still use credit cards and mobile phone texts for payment so we are giving them plenty of options for payment.’’

While there had been initial teething problems with some of the machines, these had been ironed out and staff were pleased with their operation and the speed with which any faults were being remedied.

"As with all electronic machines, there were some problems at the start,’’ says Mr Gillon. "However the contractor who has supplied the machines and who also does the maintenance on them deals with any non-compliance immediately and we are pleased how well they are working.’’.

The machines have had updated software installed which automatically reports faults so any faulty machines will not be out of service for long,’’ he says. "If users find a machine that is faulty then we ask that they use the next usable machine in the same parking zone."

While revenue had been down initially, this was mostly because enforcement officers had allowed people time to adapt to the new machines and because of the initial glitches in the system, says Mr Gillon.

"But now it is business as usual and we expect revenue to steadily climb to its predicted level.’’

Top of Page ~ Media Release index