We’re upgrading our parking meters to include PayWave

Published on 19 September 2024

Palmerston North residents will soon be able to use payWave at parking meters across the city.

Orikan, who is the provider of our parking meters, recently told us our 191 parking meters need upgrading to 4G before 3G technology goes offline in the coming months.

The upgrade will replace the current "insert" function for EFTPOS cards with a payWave option. People will still be able to pay with coins and by using the Frogparking app. Council will not make any additional revenue from the change.

The changes are scheduled to be completed by the end of October, with contractors expecting it to take about 4 weeks.

Manager of Transport and Development, Glen O’Connor, says the community has been requesting a shift to payWave for some time.

“The change will address the increasing frequency of malfunctions in the existing card-reading software, which has resulted in higher maintenance costs and complaints from people who sometimes paid for parking and still received infringement notices.”

Orikan has confirmed there are no payWave fees associated with the new function. People using credit cards may still pay a fee from their bank.

The free Frogparking app will remain available for use, which you can use to find a car park and pay for parking. You'll even get a reminder when your time is nearly up.