Coin-operated onstreet parking machines are being decommissioned in favour of smartphone apps, despite complaints by some drivers that parking apps are expensive and unreliable.
The latest area to be hit is Guildford, which, in the past month, has had two-thirds of its town centre parking machines disabled, with notices taped to them advising motorists to pay using the RingGo app.
Surrey County Council said the decision was due to ageing machines, adding: “It costs more to collect cash and maintain many of the machines than they collect in income.”
However, not all motorists are happy. Autocar spoke to one driver as she struggled to use one of the new machines in the town. “My phone can’t establish a connection [to the RingGo app],” she said. “I’m already late for an appointment and don’t have time to waste trying to buy a ticket. I expect I shall be fined.”
Later at the same machine, an elderly couple were also unhappy about the change. “We don’t like downloading and using apps and would much rather use coins or contactless payment,” they said. “At least we have a smartphone. Many of our friends don’t. We will have to find another parking space.”
In response, Surrey County Council said the connection issues were “isolated” and “motorists who would like to pay with coins are able to park in alternative locations”.
In contrast, Brighton and Hove City Council is considering whether to recommission the 12 contactless payment machines it had switched off in its city centre last year.
It recently concluded a three-month trial of the recommissioned machines, and feedback from drivers has indicated that they are more popular than paying by apps.
Speaking to BBC Radio Sussex, Joyce Collins, 90, said: “I don’t know anything about apps. I don’t take my car into the city especially because I don’t know about the parking.”
Another local resident, Christina Westwell, said: “If we have to use an app, we just drive off. I don’t want to have to go online.”
A spokesperson for the AA said parking apps are not popular with many of its members, adding: “They prefer to pay using chip and pin and get angry with parking apps that won’t connect or carry extra charges. Councils make it difficult to pay then make it more expensive to pay. It’s a real mess.”
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And councils wonder what puts people going into towns. All public car parks with more than 50 spaces should be made to accept credit or debit cards, far more simple. Apps and subscriptions are the baine of modern life.
Want to solve the problem?,then go back to cash,everybody carries a small amount of cash because most of us have grown up knowing we'll need a coin for the machine, the best result out of this situation might be less pollution in public areas or more use of public transportation, there are still some of the population who don't use technology and thus their dealing with everyday life is becoming unnecessarily difficult even making the choice of not taking there car out or not bothering, over to you Sir Keir Starmmer.
Not everybody does. I don't carry cash, and I much prefer using a parking app than coins. I would imagine that the younger someone is the less likely they are to have a load of coins knocking around for the odd machine that still takes them.
I'm not without some sympathy for those who refuse to join the modern world, and having contactless as well seems a good plan.
I don't carry cash with me. Maybe notes, sometimes, but never coins.