Txt to park at new Auckland meters

Auckland City has begun a six-month trial of parking meters that accept payment by text message and credit card.

From today Princes Street will host 12 new pay and display machines accepting "TXT-a-Park" payment through the Vodafone network, Visa and Mastercard as well as the traditional coin payment.

Auckland City parking services manager Chris Geerlings says there is huge demand for new ways to pay for parking as Aucklanders carry less and less cash.

"Parking technology has moved on significantly in the six years since single-head parking meters were replaced with pay and display machines. We're putting it to the test to get a feel for how our customers like it."

TXT-a-Park payment is available to Vodafone customers through the trial, with the parking fee charged to the customer's Vodafone account or debited from their Prepay balance.

Visa and Mastercard are accepted credit cards. The parking fee is processed via a GPRS real-time system and is instantly charged to the customer's card.

The trial aims to collect customer feedback and operating performance data about the new technology and its success is up to the people who use it says Mr Geerlings.

"If the technology is going to be welcomed anywhere in Auckland city, it's Princes Street. This area is heavily used by students, who are traditionally tech-savvy, and the high turnover will show us if the software and hardware is as robust as we need it to be.

"Wellington offers this type of technology, so we know it's safe. The volumes are just so much bigger in Auckland due to the demand for parking; we have to be really sure of what we're getting into," says Mr Geerlings.

If customers like and use the new payment options, and both the software and hardware performs well, Auckland City will go out to tender to replace its existing pay and display machines as they each come up for renewal over the next three years.


How do TXT-a-Park and credit card payment options work?

For the trial period, TXT-a-Park payment is only available to Vodafone customers. Simply txt the parking code on your Vodafone mobile to the number provided on-screen as part of the purchase process, and the parking fee is charged to your Vodafone account or deducted from your Prepay balance as appropriate.

Visa and Mastercard will both be accepted during the trial. Insert your Visa or Mastercard into the machine, follow the on-screen instructions, and the parking fee is deducted from your credit card account. Credit card payments are a real-time transaction and no credit card data is retained in the machine.

Both new payment options incur a 50 cent transaction fee.