FEATURE NEW PAYMENT SOLUTIONS
approved Payment Card Industry PIN Entry Device (PCI-PED) chip-and-PIN card reader to all Strada terminals accepting contactless payments. Meanwhile, the major clearing banks are gearing-
up for the contactless revolution, being led by Barclays and Barclaycard, which are issuing all new and replacement cards with a contactless payment facility. More than eight million contactless cards are already in circulation, and there are now 24,000 terminals able to accept contactless payments in retail outlets throughout the UK. According to the UK Cards Association, one in six payment cards will be contactless by the end of this year. ‘It is only a matter of time before contactless
becomes part of daily life for consumers, and parking terminals are a natural use for this simple and secure technology,’ says Stuart Neal, Barclaycard’s head of UK payment acceptance.
The power of speech
Also leading the technological charge is RingGo. Brand owner Cobalt Telephone Technologies reports 80,000 new members joining its leading scheme, which uses speech recognition technology, in January alone. RingGo believes digging for cash and walking to a
machine for a sticky ticket is ‘old hat’ in today’s digital world. Instead, its cashless payment system is delivered via the parking departments of 45 UK local authorities and at 30 stations on the south west trains network. Among those to sign up is Epping Forest District
Council, where motorists can pay for parking in the district by phone once they are registered by RingGo, using a debit or credit card, or with coins. Epping Forest parking manager Paul Blamey said:
‘Bringing in this additional payment system is just another example of how we are trying to make parking
A MOBILE PAYMENT SYSTEM ONLY WORKS IF YOU CAN GUARANTEE THAT EVERY USER OF YOUR PARKING FACILITY HAS A MOBILE PHONE
Award-winning smartcard
Metric’s smartcard system, installed across Hillingdon in 2009, won an industry award
Hillingdon residents who apply to use the smartcard system reap the benefits, which may include a lower parking tariff and access to other council facilities. During 2010, residents of Stratford-upon-Avon are becoming payment pioneers too, as a parking smartcard system goes live in their district – also using Metric’s Aura machine. This summer, Metric’s systems – allowing wave-and-pay, payment by traditional coins, and chip-and-PIN – are due to go live at Birmingham’s NIA (National Indoor Arena). And the Lake District National Park has also ordered similar payment technology.
enforcement easy and more transparent for motorists. ‘Our officers always give people the opportunity to
get change if needed, but the ‘RingGo’ system gives drivers more options. Tis new system is especially convenient for those who might frequently use council car parks or on street bays. By giving more options to the motorists, we can improve the service they receive.’ Harry Clarke, commercial director of RingGo,
believes future parking will be far more integrated into a consumer’s overall ‘experience’. When parking at a shopping centre, using iPhones or similar smart phone technology, communication with the consumer about the brands they can buy (as well as the shopper’s buying habits and lifestyle) could start as they pull into a parking bay, if not before. ‘Parking is ripe for change; the UK leads the world
in some respects, given that we have an unusually high density of cars per square mile. We’re also very wedded to the use of our cars; credit card usage is high and the interchange rate (banking charges for cards) is low – so we’re a fertile breeding ground,’ says Clarke. Metric Parking, meanwhile, is seeing more local
authorities adopt its smartcard ‘contactless’ system and interest in other technologies. Richard Boultbee, sales and marketing manager
for Metric Parking, commented: ‘We’ve also seen a trend toward the new ‘wave and pay’ contactless card systems, which we think will be the major player in the future of parking due to its convenience and soon widespread availability throughout the UK.’ Meanwhile, leading mobile phone payment
company Verrus has extended its partnership with management company CP Plus with the award of a contract from Roadchef. Te contract saw 18 of the busiest service stations
on the Roadchef circuit using the Verrus PayByPhone technology from April, with a further nine sites going live later this year. Te Roadchef contract, for long-stay motorists and
HGV drivers, was previously run by RingGo, and this is the second five-year contract between CP Plus and
34 MAY 2010
www.britishparking.co.uk
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