Customers can pay by phone in Monmouthshire car parks

Monmouthshire car parks will benefit from a pay-by-phone system, following concerns made my customers over payment issues and covid.

Council-owned car parks in Monmouthshire currently offer a pay and display system for buying parking tickets.

Now the cabinet member for infrastructure and neighbourhood services, Cllr Jane Pratt, has agreed to provide customers with a chance to pay for car parking tickets via mobile.

The current pay and display system, which allows customers to pay in cash or with credit card, will still be available.

Throughout the covid pandemic, the council “has seen a reduction in cash use in our car parks and therefore a greater reliance on card payment”.

But, there has been poor signal connections to some of the pay and display machines, which has resulted in customer complaints and queues.

A council report says: “On several recent occasions, the machines have failed for entire car parks, meaning both income and enforcement fines are lost, because we cannot effectively enforce for non-payment when the machines are defective and use of cash is avoided during the pandemic.

“These issues have been raised with the responsible company but resolution is slow.”

There have also been concerns over touching the keypads during the covid pandemic and the impact on hygiene.

The council has agreed to commission PaybyPhones to provide an additional payment method in the council-owned car parks.

The report says: “PaybyPhone is one of a number of providers offering a service that allows customers to use their mobile phone to buy car parking tickets.

“It is a simple process to register and the system records car details and bankcard details if the customer chooses, leaving the only required inputs as location (using a car park reference number that is clearly displayed on site, if GPS on the phone has not located you) and duration of stay.

“The service also provides an option to receive a text reminder when your ticket is due to expire, and provision to buy an extended ticket enabling you to stay in town for longer. The fee for the text messages is paid by the customer.”

The council has said the scheme will help “reduce queues, speed transactions and eliminate possible risk from queuing”.

Other service providers are available, but only two offer a bilingual service, which is essential to comply with Welsh language regulations.

The report says there are no set-up costs and it would start with a two-year trial contract.

The contractor has been recommended by Vale of Glamorgan council, which says the company has been “reliable, fast and helpful throughout the set up process and ongoing”.

There will be no changes to parking charges and the price of paying by phone will be the same as pay and display, with a two-hour ticket staying at £1.50.

There is a 4p charge by PaybyPhone for each transaction, but under the changes, the council would pay this fee.