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I far prefer using an app for parking - despite the frustration of having to have five or six different apps for this in my phone. I, like a lot of people don't

I far prefer using an app for parking - despite the frustration of having to have five or six different apps for this in my phone. I, like a lot of people don't carry small change (or even cash) and the apps offer considerable utility beyond simply paying for the parking - being able to extend your parking slot remotely, for example. It also means that you don't have to hunt around for the parking meter for a particular location - most of the time you can search by the street name, or an ID code, and it will automatically locate you to the correct zone. It also makes it far easier for parking monitoring - with a description of each vehicle and the registration plate, a traffic warden can easily look at the cars parked in a particular area, discount the ones that have an active parking session, and focus their attention on the vehicles that have exceeded the allowed booking, or have bought a paper ticket from the machine. It also means that you can do an approximation of real-time capacity in parking areas, without having to go to the expense of installing sensors in parking bays etc. So lots of advantages, I think, over cash. The obvious downside is when the app doesn't work (I've had this happen on occasion) and for drivers who don't have smart phones (a small number, I think, but still worth considering) or technically less adept users - some of these apps have truly awful UX, which I've struggled with on occasion, so for people who struggle with technology, and particularly perhaps older people, they may be exclusionary. However, in most areas, you can still pay via the machine.

mytailorisrich 2y ago
Pay machines that only accept cash are long gone. In fact pay machines that accept cash at all are on the way out as it is getting card/contactless only. Monitoring is already done by ANPR and so pay machines do require entering car registration numbers (which can also be printed on ticket for visual checks). I think contactless is as easy and convenient as it gets. Enter registration number, tap, done. If the government wanted to madate something useful for consumers it should mandate pay machines instead of app/phone only as some car parks now are. The only reason these apps are becoming ubiquitous is that they are cheaper for the operators than installing and maintaining pay machines. That is it.
- saaaaaam 2y ago
  I've encountered pay machines that only accept cash twice in the past couple of years in rural areas and was surprised. Like you, I thought they were long gone, but I guess there are still some out there. Those ones did have stickers on them (fortunately!) directing me to one of the fleet of pay for parking apps out there, which I used. Not being familiar with the area though, I had no idea if the app I was being sent to was legit. I didn't even think about it, I just thought "oh, yet another parking app I need to download" and went ahead. Contactless is easy - but there's a far higher cost (each machine needs to have connectivity etc). Plus it doesn't let you extend remotely, which is something I use very regularly. I guess from a user perspective that's a benefit, but from an operator perspective it's a potential downside - would I pre-pay for more parking if I couldn't extend? Probably. But would I potentially park elsewhere, for a car park where you pay on exit, thus removing that revenue from them entirely? Possibly. I guess it would depend on lots of factors, and my one-person study is perhaps not the most reliable data! I agree that they are becoming ubiquitous because they are cheaper for operators, but I don't think that this is the only reason: I do think that they genuinely offer greater utility than a pay at machine with contactless option. Interested to know what you mean "monitoring is already done by ANPR" because this is not my experience where I am based. Do you mean street based parking, or in car parks? For the street based parking where I am the traffic wardens have a tablet that shows them the make, model, registration number of the vehicles parked in a particular area, and generally make their patrols on foot, so I'm not sure there's any ANPR being used. I guess there could be CCTV cameras cover exit and entry points to particular locations, but in European countries and the UK I'm pretty sure that there need to be notification signs that your registration plate is being captured in that situation.

mytailorisrich 2y ago

Pay machines that only accept cash are long gone. In fact pay machines that accept cash at all are on the way out as it is getting card/contactless only. Monitoring is already done by ANPR and so pay machines do require entering car registration numbers (which can also be printed on ticket for visual checks). I think contactless is as easy and convenient as it gets. Enter registration number, tap, done. If the government wanted to madate something useful for consumers it should mandate pay machines instead of app/phone only as some car parks now are. The only reason these apps are becoming ubiquitous is that they are cheaper for the operators than installing and maintaining pay machines. That is it.

saaaaaam 2y ago
I've encountered pay machines that only accept cash twice in the past couple of years in rural areas and was surprised. Like you, I thought they were long gone, but I guess there are still some out there. Those ones did have stickers on them (fortunately!) directing me to one of the fleet of pay for parking apps out there, which I used. Not being familiar with the area though, I had no idea if the app I was being sent to was legit. I didn't even think about it, I just thought "oh, yet another parking app I need to download" and went ahead. Contactless is easy - but there's a far higher cost (each machine needs to have connectivity etc). Plus it doesn't let you extend remotely, which is something I use very regularly. I guess from a user perspective that's a benefit, but from an operator perspective it's a potential downside - would I pre-pay for more parking if I couldn't extend? Probably. But would I potentially park elsewhere, for a car park where you pay on exit, thus removing that revenue from them entirely? Possibly. I guess it would depend on lots of factors, and my one-person study is perhaps not the most reliable data! I agree that they are becoming ubiquitous because they are cheaper for operators, but I don't think that this is the only reason: I do think that they genuinely offer greater utility than a pay at machine with contactless option. Interested to know what you mean "monitoring is already done by ANPR" because this is not my experience where I am based. Do you mean street based parking, or in car parks? For the street based parking where I am the traffic wardens have a tablet that shows them the make, model, registration number of the vehicles parked in a particular area, and generally make their patrols on foot, so I'm not sure there's any ANPR being used. I guess there could be CCTV cameras cover exit and entry points to particular locations, but in European countries and the UK I'm pretty sure that there need to be notification signs that your registration plate is being captured in that situation.