Contactless payment introduced to Aberdeenshire car parks
Work has begun to upgrade ticket machines to allow contactless card payment in Aberdeenshire's Pay and Display car parks.
The first two machines have already been installed in Inverurie and Peterhead and have been well used by motorists already.
While the main machine casing remains the same, the internals and user panel of the payment machines are being upgraded.
The aim, based on feedback from local business organisations, is to make paying to park that little bit easier for visitors.
Keypads are clearer and easier to use and contactless payment is accepted, as well as coins. All instructions are on the machine screen and just need to be followed step by step.
The RingGo system continues to be available, offering the advantage of extending a parking session remotely, without returning to the vehicle. The council is covering the cost of the small fee for using the service.
While the machines have just been installed this week in Peterhead’s Prince Street and Inverurie’s Burn Lane car parks, the intention is to roll out 12 more before September 1, so that each car park in Inverurie, Peterhead and Stonehaven has at least one machine accepting contactless payment.
By next April, 22 more will be installed across the area, meaning all machines will then accept contactless (or chip) card payments.
The £66,660 to fund the upgrade of the remaining 22 machines follows a successful application by the Council to the Scottish Government’s Town Centre Fund.
Chair of Aberdeenshire Council’s Infrastructure Services Committee, Peter Argyle, welcomed the new machines and the convenience they offer Pay and Display car park users.
“Reduced parking costs for medium length stays along with the contactless payments will make payments easier and quicker, making parking more accessible and increasing town centre dwell times,” he said.
“We have had feedback from local businesses who wanted to see this, so I hope they feel the benefit of it, as well as those visitors to our town centres who make use of the new facilities.”
ISC vice chair, John Cox, said: “Efforts to improve the way our Pay and Display car parks operate have been ongoing for some time, so it’s great to see some progress on the ground.
“It is important to remember there is no such thing as free parking – it all has to be paid for by somebody, and ultimately these efforts are designed to support our town centres, making visitor stays easier while also covering the cost of providing these parking facilities, which has not been the case in recent years.”
There are several new features to the new contactless system, designed to make it even more effective.
If there is a coin jam, the machine will automatically switch to card payment only and close the coin entry system until it is cleared.
In the long term, real-time data transfer of transactions to enforcement staff means users may not need to display a ticket.
It is important to remember that there continues to be a huge range of free parking across Aberdeenshire, even in towns with Pay and Display facilities – about 75% of all available off-street parking spaces continue to be free and on-street parking in Aberdeenshire has always been free.
Aberdeenshire has more than 100 car parks – more than 4,000 spaces – and charges only apply in 24 of these. Costs to the council include business rates, repairs and maintenance, staffing and enforcement costs.
More information on the RingGo Cashless Parking System is available on the Council’s website: http://bit.ly/AbshireCashlessParking