Sandra Barnes, Mike Vautier and Keith Robinson mark out locations of the new Whanganui parking meters. Photo / Bevan Conley
Sandra Barnes, Mike Vautier and Keith Robinson mark out locations of the new Whanganui parking meters. Photo / Bevan Conley
A long-awaited upgrade of Whanganui's parking meters will go ahead early next year.
The 216 parking meters in the Whanganui CBD will be replaced by 49 new, solar-powered meters that will accept coins, tap and go credit or debit card payments, or an app-based payment system.
Whanganui District Council operationscompliance manager Jason Shailer said the reduction in meter numbers would reduce the visual and physical obstacles of meters at the end of most parking spaces.
"The biggest change will be to a 'pay by plate' system rather than the current 'pay by space' system," Shailer said.
"It will allow a person to park their car and move to another metered area without losing money."
Users will have the option to save their car registration number for future use.
Earlier this year the Chronicle reported Whanganui's parking meters were "past their use-by date" and some were permanently out of action because they couldn't be fixed.
"Parking staff continue to respond to increasing meter fault complaints. The faults are due to the ageing meters and are overdue for replacement," the council's regulatory and planning group manager, Hamish Lampp, said at the time.
The new meters will be supplied by Auckland-based Australasian company Global Parking Solutions (GPS).
The company's business development managers, Keith Robinson and Blair Bickerton, were in Whanganui this week to work with council staff on planning the first stage of the upgrade.
Robinson, who has worked in the parking industry for 15 years, said the meters have been well-tested in Australia and other New Zealand cities.
"The MetroLite meters we will be installing are designed to bridge the gap between the old and new technologies so they are user-friendly for everyone," he said.
"We will be installing the meters with a roll-out system so services won't be too disrupted during the upgrade."
Keith Robinson, Dinith Cornett, Sandra Barnes, Blair Bickerton, Mike Vautier, Jason Shailer and Andre Claassen survey a map of Whanganui parking meter locations.
Photo / Bevan Conley
Users will be able to pay for parking using a coloured touch screen and text alerts can be sent when time is running out.
Top-up payment can be made at any meter or via the app-based system. The meters operate on a dual SIM wireless communications system.
"We anticipate that the upgrade will start in February and should be finished in April," said Shailer.
"Some works will be happening while the old meters are removed and the new ones installed but any disruptions will be kept to an absolute minimum."
Shailer said there might be a short phase where there would be no metered parking in the city however parking officers would still be keeping an eye out and enforcing parking time limits.
In the July 2019-June 2020 financial year the council raised $492,761 from parking meters, but this included the Covid-19 lockdown period. In the 2018-19 financial year, the meters raised $527,280.
