City’s worst meters
Faulty machines costly and frustrating
THE parking meters outside Cairns Hospital have been named the worst in the city by Cairns Post readers.
The backlash against the machines, which have been swallowing coins without issuing tickets and refusing to accept coins altogether, comes after the Weekend Post’s report on hundreds of machines across the Cairns CBD being faulty or out of order.
Comments on the Cairns Post Facebook page have repeatedly named the Cairns Hospital as the worst spot to use a parking meter.
“Went to hospital yesterday and one of the machines chewed $2.50 and wouldn’t give it back when I cancelled it. So for one and a half hours there I ended up spending $5 in total,” reader Christine Sandilands wrote.
Kim Hurley agreed, writing: “Happened twice out front of hospital last week. Wouldn’t take coins but took card. Minimum $3.30 spend! Jipped [sic] as only needed an hour, but still cheaper than a ticket.”
Other hot spots for parking meter failure included Abbott St near the old Courthouse Hotel, along Wharf St and on Sheridan St outside Rusty’s Markets.
Reader Chris Blake said the biggest slap in the face was the time wasted when the parking meters were broken.
“It’s farcical. The real problem is the support and maintenance is all outsourced and you wait two hours if your card is retained,” he wrote.
The fury felt by Cairns commuters has been compounded by the figures released by Cairns Regional Council detailing how much revenue the council made from parking fees and fines.
A council spokeswoman said parking fines collected in March totalled $142,502 while the collection of parking fees totalled $402,663.
She said fines collected for the 12 months to the end of March grossed $1,551,807, while the total collection of parking fees was $3,581,490.