The majority of our paperless parking meters are located within the Central City within the perimeter of Bealey Ave, Madras Street, Moorhouse Ave, Rolleston Ave and Hagley Ave. There is also three off-street paperless meters located in Addington.
It's now quicker and easier to park in the central city!
This means you will no longer need to return to your car to place a paper ticket on the dashboard after paying for your parking.
Follow these four easy steps and you're on your way:
For detailed step-by-step instructions follow our 'Using a paperless meter' guide below.
If you experience any issues with our pay by plate meters you can report a problem.
The majority of our paperless parking meters are located within the Central City within the perimeter of Bealey Ave, Madras Street, Moorhouse Ave, Rolleston Ave and Hagley Ave. There is also three off-street paperless meters located in Addington.
1. Enter your licence plate number
2. Select your payment method
Credit card: $1 minimum
Coins: $1 minimum
3. Get an e-receipt
Once you have made your payment you will be asked if you wish to have an e-receipt or not.
To get a copy of the e-receipt:
4. Helpful information
If the OK button is not pressed within 20 seconds, this will cancel the transaction and your card will not be debited, or any inserted coins will be rejected. The only way a card can be debited is if you accept the transaction by pressing the "OK” button. This is your security that you are in control of the transaction at all times.
Press this button to cancel the transaction and re-enter your details if required.
By pressing the ? button, will provide you with instructions on how to make a payment or obtain an e-receipt.
If you inaccurately enter your number plate you can cancel the session and start another one with the correct number plate number. Our enforcement officers need to be able to match your licence plate number with the transaction data so it is important that your details are correct.
You can use your debit or credit card like usual. Want to save time? Use your contactless card– just tap your card onto the reader to make the payment.
Text-to-park will continue to be available at some meters using your mobile phone. Follow on-screen instructions. Please note text-to-park only available at meters with $3.10/hour parking rate.
All meters accept coins in the following denominations: $2, $1, 50c, 20c, 10c.
The rate for most of our on-street meters is $3.10 per hour. We have introduced $2 per hour meter rates in some areas of the central city.
Each meter will display its operating hours/days and time limits. Please note private companies may have different operating hours at their car parks.
Public holidays are free.
You can check if you still have any more time left by going to a parking meter and entering your number plate. It will then come up with a screen showing you how much time you have remaining.
You can extend your time if you have purchased a shorter time within the maximum period e.g if you purchase 1 hour at 2 hour maximum meter you can extend your time by another hour. However you will not be able to purchase more time than allowed in the particular payment area e.g if in 2 hour zone can still only park up to 2 hours.
Please note for credit/debit card or text-to-park payments the top up amounts are only available in half hour increments.
You can move your vehicle between meters of the same time period without having to pay again provided you still have time remaining.
You can also extend your session if moving within meters of the same period. E.g if you purchased 1 hour at a 2 hour maximum meter then moved your car to a different 2 hour meter you can extend your session by another hour or if your original time has expired you can start a new session with a maximum 2 hour period.
If you have time remaining on your coupon after parking at a meter, you can re-use the coupon at any other parking meter. Provided the coupon has not been used previously, it can be used even if the year has expired.
Costs:
Parking coupons are all cash on delivery. Coupons cannot be purchased over the telephone by credit card.
Coupons are normally sold by the book but some outlets do sell them individually. Businesses can order coupon books if they have an account (minimum order is five books).
Coupons can be ordered through Anita Koppier, coupon supplier, phone (03) 941 5244.
Inner City | City Mall, Christchurch City Council Cashiers, 53 Hereford Street |
Beckenham | Beckenham Service Centre, 66 Colombo Street |
Bishopdale | Bishopdale Library, Farrington Avenue |
Fendalton | Fendalton Service Centre, corner Clyde Road and Jeffreys Road |
Linwood | Linwood Service Centre, upstairs in library, Eastgate Mall |
Papanui | Papanui Service Centre, corner Langdons Road and Restell Street |
Riccarton | Riccarton Service Centre, 199 Clarence Street |
Shirley | Shirley Service Centre, 36 Marshland Road |
Our parking meters were installed in 2006 with credit card readers that can only read a magnetic strip.
Since then international security standards have been upgraded requiring payment hardware to be capable of reading card chips and contactless technology (e.g Paywave).
We need to upgrade our parking meters to ensure they comply with current security standards. Carrying out the upgrade means that you can now pay with contactless cards and continue to use credit cards and text to park.
We investigated several options on how to best upgrade the machines and a decision was made by the Parking Restrictions Subcommittee to upgrade the card readers and move from a pay and display system to a pay by plate system as this was the most cost effective option. Changing systems at the same time as upgrading the payment hardware results in savings as it allows us to take advantage of technology that didn’t exist in 2006, reduces operating costs and saves paper.
Work is underway to determine how a parking app for smart phones could be implemented.