Will the London parking meter make its 50th anniversary (13/04/2007)

As the London parking meter moves towards its 50th year, Westminster City Council has revealed the results of a survey in which the majority of motorists support scrapping them.

t the end of Westminster’s six-month pilot scheme for Pay by Phone Parking, conducted on behalf of a number of Central London Boroughs, 60 per cent of customers favour doing away with parking meters in the capital.

Results show that 77 per cent are either satisfied or very satisfied with the new scheme, which allows motorists to pay for their parking on their mobile phone.

Over 75 per cent found it easy to set up an account and 82 per cent said the system was easy to use once they were up and running.

When quizzed on the major benefits of the scheme, around 35 per cent of motorists pointed to the coin-free process, and the top-up facility, as the big plusses.

The Council will shortly decide on whether to roll the scheme out across the city from October, and hopes that other Council's will join them in implementing a pan-London solution.

But with a resounding thumbs-up from the parking public, it could sound the death knell for the humble meter, which was first introduced in Westminster in the summer of 1958.

Councillor Danny Chalkley, Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Transport, said: “We are delighted to receive such positive feedback from our parking customers on the Pay by Phone scheme, and it confirms how successful the trial has been.

“We launched Pay by Phone Parking in October last year to give motorists a new, coin-free way of paying for their parking. Being able to top-up your meter on the move without returning to your vehicle provides greater flexibility for motorists and helps them avoid unnecessary fines.

“The fact that our target for take-up of the scheme was smashed so far ahead of schedule speaks for itself. Now that we have the views of Londoners who use the scheme we can establish how we take Pay by Phone parking in Westminster forward.

“While the parking meter has a long and distinguished history in the city stretching back over 50 years, perhaps this could be its final birthday.”

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Notes to Editors:

The consultation exercise began on 19th March and ended on 31st March.

Westminster hit their target of generating 15 per cent of all parking revenue via Pay by Phone parking twice as quickly as Birmingham (a comparatively sized authority) and has vastly outstripped other local councils, according to the service provider.

The success of the scheme has beaten all expectations. The Council hoped that it would generate 15 per cent of all parking revenue in the two trial zones by the end of the six-months.

But this target was smashed by week seven. Westminster also hopes the extension of Pay by Phone Parking will slash the number of thefts from meters which had topped £50,000 a week.

Westminster Council Parking Department recently (Friday 9th March) won ‘Parking Team of the Year’ at the 2007 British Parking Awards. They received this accolade in response to their parking transformation from motorists’ nemesis over two years ago, to the blueprint council of best practice.

An agreement has already been made with the operator Verrus to continue the pilot scheme for up to six months after the end of March.

This was done in order to ensure business continuity whilst the decision is being made. This scheme is part of the innovative Partnership in Parking project. This is a cross London venture set up to achieve procurement efficiencies across the capital.

This means that Westminster will be sharing the data gained through the trial with the other boroughs (Camden, Islington, Lambeth, Kensington and Chelsea, City of London) as well as Transport for London who are also considering the roll-out of Pay by Phone Parking together under an umbrella framework contract.

For the past eighteen months, Westminster has introduced different methods of cashless parking including the UKs first Chip & PIN pay and display machines.

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