City's parking meters to receive 3G upgrade
Date published: 28 June 2016
Parking meters in Townsville’s CBD will be upgraded to meet 3G Network capability for customer payments before Telstra switches off 2G on December 1.
A full meeting of council approved funding of $577,500 for the project which will be rolled out in the next six months.
Infrastructure Services Committee chairman Mark Molachino said more than half of payments for parking were paid by electronic payment, which utilises the mobile network.
“The upgrade will ensure that all of the 131 parking machines operating in the CBD are all on 3G by the time of the switch off so people continue to have the choice of electronic payments and payment by coins,” Cr Molachino said.
“To manage the costs, the council will be able to modify 75 machines with good service life left with new 3G modems, while its far more feasible to replace older meters with more up to date models.
“Today’s decision is important in meeting the timelines for the upgrades, as there is a lead time for the supply of new modems and machines of up to three months.”
The upgrade is expected to begin in October and be carried out progressively across the fleet of meters to minimise disruptions to services.
Customers have the choice of paying for parking with pay and wave and the traditional swipe method, as well as coins.
