Contactless meters set to operate in 4 city car parks

Four of the big off-street car parking meters in Bath city centre are changing. The changes will apply to Charlotte Street, Manvers Street, Avon Street and Kingsmead Square and will involve removing all chip and pin facilities from the parking meters. The move comes about because of the Payment Card Industry data security compliance standards which requires all chip and pin meters to be replaced by contactless payment options. The work to change the pads will take up to three days and when finished will mean two meters in Avon Street will accept contactless cards, one in Manvers Street, one in Kingsmead Square and two in Charlotte Street. The remaining machines will still accept coins but not cards. All updated machines will have cash and contactless card payments and because of an upgrade to the network the contactless payment transactions will be quicker using 3G which means they should be successful first time. Motorists are being encouraged to sign up for an easy-to-use app called Mipermit to make payments easier and more flexible. The app means motorists will be able to pay for their parking before setting off or pay from the comfort of their car when they pull into a space – avoiding having to queue at a meter. Setting up the Mipermit app means residents will be ready to take advantage of the 10 per cent reduction in daily parking charges when the new Residents’ Parking Saver discount, is launched on August 13. The app also allows drivers to top-up their parking, up to the maximum time available, if they think they are about to run out of time and risk a parking ticket. People using the app will see a 10p transaction charge, to cover administration costs. The fee is in line with most authorities and cheaper than many others.