Melbourne to trial mobile parking payments

The City of Melbourne is deploying a pay-by-phone trial for on-street metered parking spaces.

By October, drivers in the inner-city suburb of Carlton will be able to use an iPhone application or website to pay for parking.

The trial covers the area within Victoria Street, Nicholson Street, Princess Street, Cemetery Road West and Swanston Street.

According to vendor Parkmobile, Blackberry and Android applications were “coming soon”.

The 12-month trial was part of Melbourne’s $5.48 million parking technology project, expected to deliver improved number plate recognition, hand-held scanners and in-ground sensors.

Other aspects of the project were to be delivered by Database Consultants Australia, under a deal that was announced in April.

Parkmobile today announced that the pay-by-phone service eliminated the need for drivers to predict how long they needed to stay parked.

The same system has also been deployed in Manly in Sydney's north.

No existing meters, tariffs or rules would be changed during the pilot period, Parkmobile announced.