New app makes it easy to pay for central city parking

People using metered on-street parking in Christchurch’s city centre can now pay for it using the PayMyPark app.

Christchurch City Council is trialling the app for 12 months, beginning  today.

The app can be downloaded for free from Google Play and the App Store.

The PayMyPark app allows people to pay for their parking using their smart phone or mobile device. People can choose to pay per session as a casual user or they can set up an account.

Council Transport Operations Manager Steffan Thomas says the app can be used by to pay for on-street metered parking throughout the city centre.

“With the app you only pay for the time you’ve parked and you can receive an alert when your paid parking is about to expire. You have the option too of extending your time remotely so that you don’t need to run back to put money in a meter. People though will still need to adhere to the time restrictions that are in place – if you’re in a two-hour paid parking spot you can’t just keep topping up so you can stay beyond the two hours,’’ Mr Thomas says.

"When you use the app to pay for your parking, you will need to enter a parking area code. You will find the parking area code displayed on the side of the parking meter. 

“We’re going to trial the app for 12 months and if it goes well, we will consider accepting online parking payments on a permanent basis.

“During the trial people will not be able to pay for parking in Council buildings using the app but we are exploring ways of how we could allow that to happen in the future,’’ Mr Thomas says.

The cost of the 12-month trial is under $5000, with the money coming from the Council's Smart Christchurch programme.