BS: Parking ticket payments in UK

Subject: RE: BS: Parking ticket payments in UK
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 29 Apr 26 - 06:48 PM

once or twice?? I use it almost daily. I live close to Sydney Harbour & the CBD & the parts of Sydney I spend time in have excellent Public Transport - well, mainly excellent ... I also travel regularly to the Illawarra region south of Sydney by train, but not north to the Hunter where Helen lives. Both areas have (relatively) good rail connections to Sydney.

As I mentioned on a thread somewhere, I only drove for 3 years after getting my licence, then I sold my car as my mechanic dad was retiring. I was not a happy driver, I get tired travelling & it's more socially acceptable to be nodding in a bus or train ...

Railway stations & an assortment of shops near bus routes & train & tram stations sell basic Opal cards & accept payment for top ups. People can also use their credit/debit cards for adult tickets, but not for Concession/Seniors/Pensioners tickets, they are only available to people with the appropriate Seniors/Pension cards.   

Many areas are not covered by Government buses or private buses that are part of the Opal system - details here

Subject: RE: BS: Parking ticket payments in UK
From: r.padgett
Date: 03 May 26 - 02:03 AM

Looks good Sandra ~ many cities do have good bus and tram/rail connections ~ Sheffield is one and also has Meadowhall shopping centre adjacent to railway station on Leeds, Huddersfield, Barnsley Chesterfield an further to Nottingham, Lincoln and other connection via Leeds and or Sheffield

a number of local rail connections were abolished by "Beeching axe" in 1960s so no direct Barnsley to Doncaster although Meadowhall has a number of the missing connections now

Buses are a problem although measures to include rural services are current around Barnsley

Coming up are the Cycling Tour of Yorkshire and more, and the terrain around Manchester, Derbyshire, Sheffield etc if viewed will give some indication of the dramatic countryside

Ray

Subject: RE: BS: Parking ticket payments in UK
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 03 May 26 - 03:12 AM

in recent decades new suburbs were created in western Sydney - then the new residents started asking about schools & shops & parking stations - oops, we didn't think of that ...

Residents often needed cars to get to the trains, cos bus services were either non-existent or very sparse. Decades ago an engineer noticed the single road leading to the station, so bought a bicycle as well as a house, & pedaled past the cars & had no trouble parking his bike!

New suburbs are being planned around Greater Sydney & similar concerns are raised ...

Subject: RE: BS: Parking ticket payments in UK
From: Helen
Date: 03 May 26 - 05:52 PM

Yes, Sandra-from-the-Big-Smoke, I've used the Opal card once or twice. LOL

The first time I was called for Jury duty I scored my one and only parking ticket in my 50-something years of driving because I didn't realise how difficult it is to find an all-day park in town so I didn't allow enough time to cruise around the back streets looking for one. I parked too close to an intersection, received the fine and paid it straight away. About 20 years later I was called again for my third Jury duty and decided to get an Opal card and catch the bus into town after parking in a nearby suburb. I can transfer funds onto the card online and then if I don't use it within a specified number of weeks the amount remaining gets reimbursed automatically.

The public transport network in Sydney has good coverage of all the inner suburbs but in Newcastle it is not as good. Driving is easier, and mostly it's not bumper-to-bumper traffic jams. (Remind me again why I live in lovely Newcastle! :-) ) Going up the country to the lower valley i.e. my home town is also a fairly easy drive.

Subject: RE: BS: Parking ticket payments in UK
From: r.padgett
Date: 04 May 26 - 02:49 AM

Yes places like Wakefield and Barnsley are easy drives and urban with good access, pass through rural countryside with good parking (to pay).

Leeds and Sheffield centres are no go for cars although trains and buses are good for visitors

Ray

Subject: RE: BS: Parking ticket payments in UK
From: DaveRo
Date: 04 May 26 - 03:32 AM

DaveRo wrote: You could pay for parking with such a card just as you do for a bus ride

Apparently a couple of decades ago there were many car park machines that took stored-value cards with names like 'Easy Park'. They pre-dated ones that took credit cards. The machines didn't have keyboards or screens, just buttons: you printed a ticket for your windscreen.

Cash and tickets are disappearing to make the machines cheaper to maintain and less likely to be robbed. Ticket machines gained a pin-pad for credit cards which made them a bit bigger.

Number plate reading cameras (APNR) are replacing exit gates on car parks, and on the streets wandering traffic wardens or vehicles with scanners check parked cars. But that means you have to specify your car registration number. So ticket machines need a keyboard or touch-entry display which makes them much bigger, more expensive and more vandalisable. It's common around here for a car park to have several such machines of which most are out of order. (And touch entry keyboards often seem to be laggy, which makes entering your reg number even more tedious and error-prone.)

An easier and more reliable way of entering a reg number is needed. A barcode reader? You could have a barcode with your reg number on the key fob. (Risky if you drop your keys.) Voice entry? A chip embedded in your hand?

Then the machines could go back to having a couple of buttons and a one-line display telling you how many hours you selected and the cost.

And for those who don't, can't, or won't use a phone app, or don't have a bank account, re-introduce the pre-paid 'Easy Park' card.