Coupon system could mean an end to parking meters

Press, 2 May 1988, Page 16

Coupon system could mean an end to parking meters

When people talk about the much-loved face of Christchurch, it is safe to assume that they are not referring to the city’s proliferation of parking meters. In fact these unfortunate pieces of metal seem to be universally regarded as visitations from a malevolent god.

It is hard to imagine Greenpeace launching a “Save the Parking Meters” campaign, or concerned citizens chaining themselves to the edifices as bulldozers roll inexorably nearer.

Who will shed a tear as the parking meter, synonymous with frustration and bureaucracy, faces extinction?

Certainly not the Christchurch City Council, who

are sounding what may prove to be the parking meter’s death knell.

Coupon parking begins a six month trial period on Saturday, May 7. Next time you find yourself standing on a freezing pavement trying to beg borrow or steal ten ten cent pieces before the wrath of the parking warden descends on your windscreen, you may gain some small comfort from the knowledge that the people who put the parking meters there do not like them anymore than you do. And if you think Santa’s elves have a hard time, spare a thought for the people who have to recalibrate every single one of the city’s meters every time parking costs go up

or time limits are changed. The problem is that the meters cannot be adjusted to accept larger coins, only more of the same. As charges go up, the same 10 cent piece buys you less and less time, getting to the present stage where parking involves carrying a ludicrous amount of small change with you at all times. This also means that the meters fill up more quickly, and therefore have to be emptied more often, posing a manpower problem for the administrative authorities. The final straw for the council was the Government’s review of coinage. Although not yet approved, the council feel it highly likely that our coinage will change be-

fore too long, with new coins introduced and others becoming absolete. The effect of this on the parking meter elves would have to be seen to be believed. And worst of all, if the coin sizes which have been talked about prove correct, the parking meter may not be able ,to tell the difference between a 10 cent and a dollar coin.

All in all, the parking meter has become a headache which the Christchurch City Council and its constituents can do without.

Coupon parking, originally ■ a Danish idea, has been operating for some considerable time in many overseas cities.

It has also been tried with success in Invercargill, and was introduced to

Dunedin on April 1. Ashburton and Timaru are expected to follow suit in the near future.

Public acceptance and use of the system will determine its future here in Christchurch.

The coupons will be sold by a wide range of city and suburban businesses — about 140 in total.

They will be sold in books of 10, each coupon usable only once, in a choice of 20 cent, 40 cent, 50 cent or $1 coupons.

At the end of the six months, the council will decide whether the coupons stay or go. If they stay, the parking metres may well go. Perhaps, relegated to the museums, they will be remembered more kindly in years to come.