Notorious for its culturally conservative mindset, London’s Westminster Council has gone all early 21st Century with its plan to replace physical car parking meters with a pay-by-phone system, the BBC is reporting.
The plan follows a six month pilot trial in which a surprisingly low 60 percent of customers were said to be in favour of replacing meters. The council also claims 77 percent of the 60 percent were satisfied (that’s 46 percent overall, maths fiends), with paying by phone, while 35 percent (a mere 21 percent overall), approved of the coin-free process and ability to easily top-up.
“While the parking meter has a long and distinguished history in the city stretching back almost 50 years, it looks like it has finally had its day,” the BBC reported Westminster Council’s wannabe futurologist Danny Chalkley as profounding.
However, the process of rolling out a pilot scheme into one of central London’s busiest areas may be less smooth than the council expects. For one thing, you need to have set up an online account before you park, something that’s certain confuse tourists and one-off visitors to the area, although you can also do this directly your phone or via SMS.
But for the mobile-less minority (or N95 owners who have used up their batteries), the council said traditional pay-and-display facilities should still be available ’somewhere’ in the vicinity. Good luck.
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