Hamilton parking meters sold to community for chance of second life

Hamilton swapped to smart parking meters recently. Photo / Terry Su

After being evicted from Hamilton central streets and being replaced with Smart meters, the city’s old coin parking meters are looking for new homes.

Hamilton City Council (HCC) said it had been approached by several people who wanted the old parking meter heads for sentimental reasons or to use for an art sculpture.

“We’ve had some interest with people wanting an old parking meter for art or as a keepsake. The public now have the opportunity to buy a meter head and support community organisations... before they’re disposed of for scrap metal,” HCC’s City Transport Unit director Gordon Naidoo said.

GoEco and Habitat for Humanity are the organisations selling the meter heads and would be able to keep the proceeds to support their work.

The meters will be available for sale at the two stores until August 18. Any remaining meters will be sold to a scrap metal yard, with the funds returned to HCC.

The meter heads cost $30 each, or $25 each with a multi-buy discount purchase of five or more. The meter poles are not included in the sale. The poles were cut at ground level and sold as scrap metal.

HCC has removed the meters from the central city in March, saying they were outdated.

They were replaced with electronic parking meters where drivers can register their licence plate and pay with payWave or through the PayMyPark app. Over a dozen new meters also accept coin payment.

Offering the meters for sale before recycling supports HCC’s efforts of reducing the amount of waste that goes to landfill and aligns with their waste management and minimisation strategy.

The locations of the new meters around the central city, including where the coin-operated meters are situated, can be viewed on the maps below.

The locations of Smart parking meters in Hamilton central. Map / Hamilton City Council