New technology allowing motorists in Belfast to pay their on-street parking fees by credit card has proved a hit with the public.
Just three days into the scheme, 40 per cent of customers are opting for the state-of-art swipe card system.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Regional Development which introduced the scheme last Friday said this figure was encouraging.
"It's early days but so far people seem willing to experiment with the new way of paying," she said yesterday.
Belfast is the first city in the UK or Ireland to introduce the new pay and display parking machines which use mobile phone technology to accept payment from all Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Delta charge cards. The process takes just a few seconds and eliminates the last minute scramble for loose change.
Paying his parking fee by credit card, Regional Development Minister Mr Peter Robinson said the £500,000 sterling (€801,282) investment would mean customers could enjoy the best facilities available.
"With around 32,000 motorists using on-street parking in Belfast each week, this initiative will make short-stay parking easier for everyone including those who are short of change, shoppers and foreign visitors who are short of sterling," he said.
The original machines in Belfast city-centre, which serviced 15 million customers since 1987, were due for replacement.
There are a total of 160 pay-and-display machines in the city centre area providing 1,300 short-stay parking spaces at the cost of 80p per hour.
The new machines being installed by the Department's Roads Division will operate in the ticket zone area at the back of the City Hall, bounded by Donegall Square South, Great Victoria Street and Alfred Street. Phase two in the Smithfield and Chicester Street areas is due to get under way shortly and will be completed by the end of the summer.
In addition to the swipe-card facilities, the machines are networked to the Parking Office at Road Service divisional headquarters at Hydebank so that for the first time faults that occur will be automatically reported.
