Getting change from a parking machine

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Have you noticed how car parking charges - at stations and elsewhere - are rarely an 'exact' amount and almost inevitably require multiple coins you don't have, or overpayment and they rarely give change ... why not ....

From The Daily Mash

Professor Henry Brubaker said: "We^ve sent people into space, so I^m fairly certainly the technology exists to make small denomination coins come out of a slot."

[Worcester_Passenger]

I offer the attached as a fine example. An all-day ticket in this Plymouth City Council car park cost ^4.90. Note the "maximum of 30 coins" warning - did some unhappy motorist try feeding it with a bagful of 5p coins as a protest?

[grahame]

I offer the attached as a fine example. ...

Your fine example required 2,3,2,4,3,3 and 5 coins for each of the various rates and (as far as I can see) in each case it's only do-able with even that number of coins in one specific combination requiring you to happen to have at least two different denominations in your pocket at the time. 2.80 is a particularly interesting amount - even with 4 coins they are 4 different coins - 2.00 0.50 0.20 and 0.10 ... for sure, lots and lots of ways of doing it with more, but 56 5p coins is ruled out!

[LiskeardRich]

No change given are a nice money maker for the operators,

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-26498942

Cornwall Council is making more than ^300,000 a year simply because its parking machines do not give change.
Last year, ^11.6m was paid in parking fees, of which an estimated ^307,293 was due to an "over-vend", a Freedom of Information request shows.
The authority said stocking 250 machines with change would be too problematic and costly.
According to the council's figures, in 2011/12 it made more than ^340,000 from no-change pay and display machines.

The authority, run by a Liberal Democrat-Independent coalition, said in a statement: "In Cornwall, there are over 250 pay and display machines in locations from Bude to Porthcurnow and if these machines gave change there would have to be a mechanism to ensure they were continually stocked with sufficient change and to address the situation if they were not.
"The logistical problems of doing this would be great and would result in a high cost.
"The 'base level' of change would also be left in the machines at all times making them much more prone to vandalism and theft."
It also said there was a cashless mobile phone payment system on some machines.
"The amount of overspend only represents about 2% of our total income from car parking charges," it said.
"Like any surplus parking income, it is used to support transportation requirements such as road maintenance and concessionary bus fares."

[Worcester_Passenger]

I always liked the way in which Greater Manchester PTE^▸ (Passenger Transport Executive), in the days when they charged pensioners for bus travel, had a flat fare of 37p. Try doing that with arthritis.

[Fourbee]

I always liked the way in which Greater Manchester PTE^▸ (Passenger Transport Executive), in the days when they charged pensioners for bus travel, had a flat fare of 37p. Try doing that with arthritis.

On a similar note, the design of machine you posted in the 2nd post of this thread has a plastic shroud that makes it extremely fiddly to insert a 5p into a slot. The ticket is dispensed in an odd way as well which requires some dexterity to wrap a finger round to extract; IMO^▸ (in my opinion) it is an atrocious piece of kit even for someone without joint problems/arthritis.

We have had contacless cards for a while now, yet the majority of buses and parking machines up and down the country do not accept them. Places where it would be extremely convenient.

[Brucey]

We have had contacless cards for a while now, yet the majority of buses and parking machines up and down the country do not accept them. Places where it would be extremely convenient.

Southampton City Council have accepted contactless cards in their parking machines for many years, with no surcharge.  I cannot think of anywhere else (in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom)) I have seen contactless on parking meters.

Many machines now take chip and PIN payments, others require calling a telephone number.  Most councils charge a "convenience fee" for this.  Given you have to pay for the phone call and the council don't have to pay for the cash handling, I wonder whether this fee is for convenience to the motorist or to the council.

[ray951]

We have had contacless cards for a while now, yet the majority of buses and parking machines up and down the country do not accept them. Places where it would be extremely convenient.

Southampton City Council have accepted contactless cards in their parking machines for many years, with no surcharge.  I cannot think of anywhere else (in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom)) I have seen contactless on parking meters.

I have seen parking machines that take contactless cards in Bracknell. This could become a really interesting thread 




Edit note: Quote marks fixed, for clarity. CfN.

[Bmblbzzz]

Some parking in Bristol can be paid by text.

[Tim]

didn't have change last time I parked at Liskeard.  decided to use my phone to pay instead by credit card.  Took 10 minutes toi register as a user and set it all up.  And most annoyingly was later in the day, safely tucked up at home and fast asleep after a day at the seaside, I get woken by a text message asking me if I want to extend my parking.

[BerkshireBugsy]

There used to be quite a few "free" street parking locations in Newbury which happen to be near the station (that is irrelevant for this post)

I needed to park for half an hour in one of these bays so put my ^1 coin in but the machine did nothing. So I pressed "reject" and it responded with ^7 in change. I then put my ^1 back in and it took it. So total parking charge = -E6...I like that!

BTW^▸ (by the way) I did call the parking provider who told me not to bother trying to give the money back "too many forms"...I suspect on their part!

[Surrey 455]

In November three councils in Surrey withdrew the pay by phone parking scheme due to "contractual issues" with provider Phone & Pay.

http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/surrey-councils-suspend-phone-pay-10498931

Phone and pay services in council car parks in Surrey have been suspended "in order to protect the interests of customers".

Guildford Borough Council (GBC), Waverley Borough Council (WBC) and Elmbridge Borough Council (EBC) have announced that motorists will no longer be able to pay for parking by telephone due to "contractual issues" with provider Phone & Pay.

The phone and pay service allows council car park users to pay for parking by phone, either using an online app or by ringing an automatic system.

A spokesman for GBC said that it had suspended the service and that payments using this method would no longer be accepted, adding that motorists would have to use pay and display machines for the time being.

The spokesman said: ^We apologise for any inconvenience - and are working to reinstate a phone payment service as soon we can.^

However, WBC has said that it has brought the service to a complete end while they work to resolve contractual issues with the service.

Waverley councillor Kevin Deanus, portfolio holder for operational services, said: ^In order to protect the interests of our customers and the interests of the council we have taken the decision to stop providing the service as the issues have not been resolved.

^Waverley has contacted all subscribers to advise them that the service is no longer available and to pay for their parking using the machines provided. The ability to pay for parking by phone is popular with our customers and we will be looking to provide a telephone payment facility as soon as possible^.

WBC said that since introducing the service in December 2014, almost 8,000 people have used it, and that they had all received a text message informing them of the changes.

EBC told Get Surrey that a range of initiatives had been undertaken to inform customers and to prevent any further payments being made using the service.

Councillor Dorothy Mitchel, cabinet member responsible for parking, said: ^The decision has been taken to discontinue the ^phone and pay^ service in council car parks with immediate effect. Regrettably, this decision has been taken due to unresolved contractual issues with the service provider, and to protect the council^s interests and those of our customers.

^Inevitably, the withdrawal of the service will result in some inconvenience for our customers and we apologise for this.

^We are working hard to ensure a replacement service will be available in the New Year.^

Get Surrey contacted Phone & Pay for comment but have not received a reply as yet.