Replacement of the car parking machines
Have your say on car parking
We are proposing three options for the replacement car parking machines:
- Contactless, card and app payments only (no cash payments) + free public toilets:
In this option, new payment machines would enable card/contactless payments, something which we have not been able to provide before. App payments would continue (with the 10p service fee retained). As a result of going ‘cashless’ in our car parks, we would also remove the existing 50p charge for using the public toilets and make them free. Costs to the council would likely stay the same due to the savings of not having to collect the cash being offset by the reduced income through the public toilets.
- Cash, contactless and card payments only (no app payments):
In this option, the machines would accept cash and card/contactless payments, but the app would no longer be available. Costs to the council would likely stay the same due to the cost of collecting cash being offset by the saving created from removing the app service. The existing 50p charge for using the public toilets would remain.
- Cash, contactless, card and app payments:
In this option, all current payment options would be retained (cash and app payments) with the introduction of card/contactless payments too. Costs to the council would likely be higher than Option 1 and Option 2 due to the need to continue collecting cash from the machines and running the app. The existing 50p charge for using the public toilets would remain.
In all three options above, season tickets would remain unaffected.
Related information
What is the current breakdown of how people pay for parking?
In Melton, users of the car park currently pay by the following ways:
Cash payments: 40% of sales
App payments: 58% of sales
Season tickets: 2% of sales
There is not currently an option for contactless card payments.
National Trends
Nationally, cash use for car parks has dropped sharply, from 51% of payments in 2013 to just 12% in 2023. Most people now prefer card or contactless payments. Other councils have gone cashless and saved significant amounts on cash collection and maintenance. For example, York City Council saved £60,000 a year by removing cash payments.