Residents in Sydney’s north are set to receive cashless parking meters as council pushes for upgrades, however not everyone is happy with the change.
North Sydney Council announced the decision to update their parking meters ahead of the nationwide 3G network shutdown, using the opportunity to install cashless paid parking systems.
“Our parking meters are changing due to the upcoming Australiawide shutdown of the 3G network,” the council said in a statement.
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“All existing parking meters in the North Sydney LGA use this network, which therefore requires an upgrade.”
Council advised residents that the new meters will be installed in the lead up to the network switch in July 2024.
No changes to the paid parking zones or time limits are expected.
Council cited multiple reasons for going cashless, including a lack of coins being used to pay for parking.
“Over the past year, the number of people paying with coins for parking has lowered to less than 4 per cent,” it said.
“Malfunctions in our existing parking meters occur primarily due to coin-box vandalism and jams.
“The removal of coin payments ensures our parking meters’ reliability long-term, as it decreases these ongoing maintenance costs.”
However, not everyone is happy about the prospect of going cashless.
“Absolutely ridiculous, who wants to do a card transaction for $1?” one community member posted online.
“Quicker to tap on than finding a $1 coin, as long as they don’t pass on the card fees to us,” said another.
A third person warned they had heard of people being scammed after fake QR codes were stuck onto council meters, claiming to be the new cashless payment methods.
“I wonder how they plan to stop that from happening?”
