West Berkshire Council has introduced a cashless, mobile phone-based payment scheme for its surface car parks as part of its Newbury Vision initiative to re-develop the town centre and make it more citizen-friendly.

The council caters to the needs of about 145,000 people in an area that is primarily rural and relatively prosperous, but is attempting to transform its regional centre by 2020.

This project will see many of Newbury’s old surface car parks in the town eliminated and more targeted residential, retail and underground facilities introduced.

But last year, the decision was made to replace ageing parking equipment, such as pay-and-display meters, with new kit.

Martyn Baker, car park manager at West Berkshire Council, says the aim was to bring in elements of Newbury Vision ‘a bit early’ – and to go for a new generation of parking equipment.

‘While mobile phone payments aren’t quite the thing now, in two or three years’ time, they will be commonplace,’ he says.

‘Mobile phones are starting to play an important role in people’s everyday lives, so why not use them to pay a parking fee? It just made sense.’

Another consideration was trying to reduce the number of parking penalties
issued for non-payment because such activity does not help to create a positive impression of the town.

‘Parking is a very important element of where people shop,’ says Baker. ‘The idea is to give Newbury a competitive edge to nearby shopping centres to increase the prosperity of the town.’

The project, which was rolled out on 9 November 2005, took about two months and is the first one in England to go live, although Edinburgh was the first city to introduce such a scheme in the UK.

Customers wanting to use the service simply register online or telephone (0870) 730 1230, providing their credit or debit card and mobile phone number to the agent.

Once registered, users call the service number displayed on the parking meter, using their mobile phone, and enter the meter number.

The unit greets the user with a personal message on-screen and the individual then enters the length of time they would like to stay, using buttons located on the meter.

They can also choose whether or not to receive a text-reminder 10 minutes before their ticket expires.

The Zeag Equipment system manages the council’s pay-and-display units and records each mobile phone payment.

It transfers data about the cashless transactions once a day to Alphyra’s mPark mobile payment applications over a broadband connection and this system charges the fee to customers’ debit or credit card account.

The next step will be to introduce a similar scheme at Newbury’s two multi-storey car parks and the council says it would also consider enabling users to replenish their parking tickets remotely, should such functionality become available.

‘If you see it as an investment in the future to make the town centre more attractive and competitive, there is a strong business case. It’s about taking a more holistic approach as it benefits the town as a whole rather than just the council,’ says Baker.

Main feature: Technology sector driven by cost pressures