New parking meters arriving soon – but what next for the old meters?

Nelson will soon have new pay-by-plate parking meters.

Arriving on 29 June, the new meters require people to enter their car registration number before paying, and create zero paper ticket waste. 

Users can pay using PayWave, coins or a new parking app. 

If you choose to pay by app and realise you need a bit more time in the City, you can top up your parking remotely as long as you remain within the allowed time limits. 

For those that have paid by PayWave or cash you can top up at a nearby meter. 

With no paper ticket to worry about, visitors to the City Centre will be able to simply pay for their parking and walk away – no need to return to your car.

The first hour of parking will remain free, and can be split into 15 minute increments.

But what will happen to our old parking meters? Fortunately, they won’t end up on the scrapheap.

The screens behind the rear panels will be reused in other parking meters, electronics and wiring will be sent to Auckland to be recycled by the Electronic Recycle Company, and the steel and alloy that their casings are made from will also be recycled.

Group Manager Infrastructure Alec Louverdis says Nelson's population is passionate about reducing waste and the new parking system achieves that aim while also increasing convenience.

“It’s now much easier for people to pay for their parking, there’s no need to make sure you have cash on hand to park in a Nelson City Council carpark. 

We also know how passionate Nelsonians are about the waste created by pay and display tickets – and these new meters solve that problem overnight.”