Nelson City Council says there has been an increase in people paying correctly for their parking, a year after new pay-by-plate technology was introduced.
Just over $923,000 of parking infringements were issued across Nelson in the year 1 July 2020 – 30 June 2021, in the form of nearly 14,000 tickets.
However, only about $630,000 was actually recovered.
Nelson City Council group manager infrastructure Alec Louverdis says although there were nearly 1000 more infringements issued this year, representing an extra $200,000 compared to last year, the change to pay-by-plate has been positive.
He says the difference in infringements was due to lockdown when inner city businesses were all closed and a subsequent free parking initiative between April and June 2020.
“We have had a very positive response to the introduction of the pay-by-plate system.
“The public has adapted very quickly, and we are now seeing an increase in the number of people paying correctly for their parking.”
Alec says the new system has removed the ability for people to claim several free hours of parking in one day by simply moving their vehicle and using multiple free pay and display tickets.
The Beauty Clinic Nelson owner, Stacey Annett, says she and some of her customers have noticed that it’s now easier to find a park in both Montgomery and Buxton Car Park during the week.
However, she says it remains difficult to find a space on CBD streets.
Income from people paying for parking over the past year, after expenses, was $570,480, up from about $356,000 the previous year.
The change to pay-by-plate has also seen a drop in parking meter maintenance and operations costs of $91,124 – a decrease from $242,611 in the 2019/20 year.
