ARARAT - Ararat Rural City Council will be less than impressed by the initial response from ratepayers to the installation of new parking meters in Barkly Street.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The few residents that both pay and are savvy enough to notice the change have described the new machines as 'hungry' and 'dear' with the cost of renting a spot for one hour rising by 50 percent.
The old Reino RSV1 Multi Bay Parking Meters have been replaced with new and refurbished latest generation Reino VS Multi Bay Parking Meters.
The previous meters had progressively become unserviceable over the past 12 months with many not functioning.
A key feature of the new meters is the Autotrax Management System that will notify Council via text message once a meter's cash box is full or a fault occurs.
The management system allows reports to be generated showing the level of takings from each meter.
This will result in efficiency gains in that only those meters that have faults or are full will be attended to.
Council resolved in the 2013/14 budget to fund the replacement of the meters, the cost to be spread over four years.
A tender process resulted in the contract for the supply and installation to be awarded to Duncan Solutions at a cost of $34,000 per year over four years.
The new meters look similar to the old ones, but don't accept five cent coins.
Barkly Street users may also notice that parking fees have increased with the cost of an hour rising from $1.00 to $1.50 per hour.