Wellington - The simplified parking app experience that takes more of your money

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timmmay

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#3055955 28-Mar-2023 20:14

I avoid the central city partly because of parking fees. I only go in now if I have to, things like the optometrist I've been seeing for 20 years. I'm considering moving to practices in the suburb I live in though.

mrdrifter

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#3055971 28-Mar-2023 21:29

afe66: I've used it in Dunedin for years and the convinience of extended stay without having to go back is worth it for me. Ie if I'm stuck and cant get back to my car before the meter runs out then I cant the put more money on meter either.

Previously I had tenancy to overpay the meter with coins to avoid tickets and must have driven away from with credit on machine lots of times under old system

I never carry coins so the alternative is pay waving each time

You can't do that in Wellington, if you exceed the sign-posted maximum stay(60/90/120/180 minutes) you will be ticketed, even if you have topped up the meter.

afe66

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#3055988 28-Mar-2023 22:43

mrdrifter:
afe66: I've used it in Dunedin for years and the convinience of extended stay without having to go back is worth it for me. Ie if I'm stuck and cant get back to my car before the meter runs out then I cant the put more money on meter either.

Previously I had tenancy to overpay the meter with coins to avoid tickets and must have driven away from with credit on machine lots of times under old system

I never carry coins so the alternative is pay waving each time

You can't do that in Wellington, if you exceed the sign-posted maximum stay(60/90/120/180 minutes) you will be ticketed, even if you have topped up the meter.

It's like that here too but I meant paid for an hour then needing more time but still within the max allowed say 4 hrs.

This happens when I pop into work for a "quick" meeting which supposed to take 30 minutes but doesn't...

TinyTim

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#3056338 29-Mar-2023 20:43

floydbloke:

richms:

They are just like Auckland transport. Anti-car so to make it harder is part of their goals.

Yep, and they now need to be careful what they wish for because it's starting to 'hit them in the pocket'.

Don't think ratepayers will be too chuffed with having to make up any revenue shortfalls.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/wellington/131564199/call-for-lower-fees-with-54-of-wellingtons-onstreet-car-parks-in-use

So with about 50% utilisation, the parks on Featherston and neighbouring streets are generally close to 100%. However around where I work, near Courtenay Pl, and the parks on Wakefield St, Tory St, Kent Tce and other nearby streets on the north side of Courtenay Pl are practically deserted during the day. (Not sure about the other side. Busier but still not that busy when I wander that way.)

Kyanar

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#3056505 30-Mar-2023 13:11

lchiu7:

They use Account2Account. Not sure why what is a violation of the banks terms and conditions. AirNZ use Poli.

A2A is a standard payment mechanism offered by Windcave and is completely legal.

https://www.windcave.com/merchant-ecommerce-account2account.html

Poli is a bit dodgier since it does screen scraping rather than call a bank's published API

Account2Account is no different to POLi, it does the exact same thing. Banks do not yet have APIs for payments, and do not support POLi or A2A, they just have very few practical ways to block it. Worth noting too that it's comical calling POLi dodgier than Account2Account, since POLi is owned by the Australian Government.

JonnyCam

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#3056574 30-Mar-2023 14:01

Kyanar:

lchiu7:

They use Account2Account. Not sure why what is a violation of the banks terms and conditions. AirNZ use Poli.

A2A is a standard payment mechanism offered by Windcave and is completely legal.

https://www.windcave.com/merchant-ecommerce-account2account.html

Poli is a bit dodgier since it does screen scraping rather than call a bank's published API

Account2Account is no different to POLi, it does the exact same thing. Banks do not yet have APIs for payments, and do not support POLi or A2A, they just have very few practical ways to block it. Worth noting too that it's comical calling POLi dodgier than Account2Account, since POLi is owned by the Australian Government.

Westpac white label Account2Account as Direct From Account as an API from what I remember.

https://www.westpac.co.nz/business/products-services/accepting-payments/accept-payments-from-customers-bank-accounts/westpac-direct-from-account/

It's not really in the interest of banks to allow these services to offer consumers direct payments, with the apparent ease of a credit card payment, as it cuts them out of their merchant fee margins.

The security aspect is not so bad, if expect for the fact it makes people more blase about entering internet banking credentials into a third party site. If Windcave are hacked, we have bigger problems than internet banking. Yes it's against T&C's for banks so there is a potential risk.

edit: re A2A / direct from account

https://www.bankingday.com/article/westpac-nz-allows-direct-bank-account-payments

autechre

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#3057121 31-Mar-2023 13:59

mdf:

I thought the article was a bit overhyped to be honest with you. PayMyPark (including transaction fees) has been around for ages; its nothing new

I use PMP too. Even though they charge for topping up your "account", its much more convenient to use the app rather than having to go back to your car if the time runs short or if its peeing with rain.

It also works on a number of council parking areas around the country, so handy for parking in a "foreign" town.

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Kyanar

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#3057127 31-Mar-2023 14:15

The question is, does Council let you pay by simply putting cash in the meter? If not, it's a bit on the nose to charge transaction fees for the only available payment method. Over here we have two apps depending on which city you're in at the time, one of the two cities uses Cellopark and charges no fees, but also doesn't allow cash payments any more. The other still allows cash, and allows Easypark but you're charged a fee roughly similar to PMP's fee. Both have the convenient extension functionality and start/stop parking like PMP.

Personally I'm of the view that council should simply absorb the app operator's fee at the minimum, since the goal is to save them money not handling cash, or the app operator should not even be charging it since they already got paid for the platform integration. Passing on the 1.something percent CC fee is probably defensible.

BlakJak

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#3057859 2-Apr-2023 15:58

Angle is a little biased - as is the OP.

I use PMP in Wellington at least a couple of times a week. The trick is to use start-stop parking. I don't know how you can forget to turn it off - it just becomes part of your routine as you open your car and get in (I usually end my session as soon as I can see my car from the street). It refunds you what you don't use, so it's not really a problem, so long as you can afford to maintain a balance.

I probably top up my balance by $20 every three or four weeks, if that gives you an idea of how often I use it. It is worth noting that most parks are P120 so you can't simply "top up" if you want to spend more than 2 hours. You do need to go to your car and move it somewhere else.

My use-cases are:

- when i'm working remotely (from home in the Northern suburbs) but need to physically be present at the office for up to 2 hours

- Errands to CBD businesses on any WFH day or on weekends when the meters are running

- When I have a function after work and need my car for afterward, i'll park elsewhere for the day and then drive to a metered spot nearer to the function when I leave the office (depending on how late it'll run, how near I am to my regular all-day parking spot, and the weather). I often use e-scooters to cover the gap between venue and car.

The amount of metered street parking near my office is going to drop through the floor soon thanks to the cycle-friendly changes planned and this will make visiting the office during the working day more difficult, which will lead to more personal compromises... either paying for all-day parking, or greatly reducing my flexibility in terms of after-work events and such.

Only upside is that several scheduled rail services locally have finally started running again after being basically permanently cancelled due to staffing. Getting home reliably has been quite inflexible recently due to the reduced timings available.

No signature to see here, move along...

BlakJak

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#3057860 2-Apr-2023 15:59

Oh and i meant to say that the biggest downsides of PMP are:

- CC tax, which is (mostly) made up by convenience

- That the txt-to-park solution was canned, meaning that instead of simply using my work phone to pay for work-related parking, I need to pay-and-claim. Or use a taxi, which comes at a net cost.

No signature to see here, move along...

JonnyCam

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#3057967 3-Apr-2023 07:46

BlakJak: Angle is a little biased - as is the OP. I use PMP in Wellington at least a couple of times a week. The trick is to use start-stop parking. I don't know how you can forget to turn it off - it just becomes part of your routine as you open your car and get in (I usually end my session as soon as I can see my car from the street).

If you use android, you can turn on ongoing start-stop notifications in the app settings, so it sits in your notification tray when active.

On my Samsung, this means I get a floating PMP logo on the screen (I've turned on smart popup view in the settings) I can click the icon, and it opens as a mini window showing me the swipe to stop parking screen. Not sure about iOS.

JonnyCam

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#3057969 3-Apr-2023 07:50

Kyanar:

The question is, does Council let you pay by simply putting cash in the meter?

some of the new meters are cashless. Used to see a few of the old ones with no cash drawer or the machine flat on the footpath.

autechre

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#3086053 7-Jun-2023 12:19

Kyanar:

does Council let you pay by simply putting cash in the meter?

A lot (possibly most) around Wellington are cashless and you are charged 50c per transaction for using a credit card.

So, if you're parking regularly, the PMP app works out cheaper.

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