ALMOST 400 people have signed up to the PayByPhone scheme since it was launched in Horsham in May this year.
Horsham District Council signed a contract with PayByPhone to offer customers in Horsham town centre the option of cashless car parking payments earlier this year.
Three months after the scheme was launched and almost 1,000 cashless payments have now taken place.
The new easy payment option is available on a trial basis to motorists parking their vehicles in the Piries Place multi storey and North Street car parks in Horsham town centre.
This means motorists can quickly and easily pay for their parking with just a few simple taps on their mobile phones.
There is still the option to pay via the coin payment machines for those who prefer to do so.
To use PayByPhone, customers follow a quick and simple one off registration process by phone, text message, mobile web or PayByPhone app to capture their vehicle registration and payment card details.
Users can then continue to make the parking payment using their mobile phones, which takes less than a minute.
Donna Richardson, a PayByPhone user from Horsham, spoke about the scheme.
She said: “I think it’s fabulous! When I first started using a lot of the parking places around Horsham, I always had to make sure that I had change with me.
“PayByPhone made it so much easier, I just downloaded the app which was really easy on to my iPhone. And then I just then put the hours and the amount of time I’m going to be here and then I go.
“It’s so much easier than trying to dig for coins in my bag or my purse. I think it’s a great app and everyone should use it.”
Motorists in Horsham can now receive email receipts, online parking statements and there’s a choice to receive SMS reminders before the parking session finishes, so users can extend it without returning to their cars.
Roger Paterson, HDC cabinet member for the local economy, said: “It’s not a huge surprise that PayByPhone cashless payment has proved so popular with Horsham car parkers.
“It’s such an easy way to pay for parking that avoids all the fiddle of having to find the correct coins, and so much easier for the council to manage too.
“With this successful introduction, it’s likely that more of Horsham’s parking services will go over to similar forms of cashless payment to make town centre parking simpler and more efficient for everyone.”
Service charges apply and depend on the level of parking fee. Optional texts are charged at 10p per text.
PayByPhone is the UK’s leading phone parking specialist, offering the widest and most innovative range of phone parking payments.
It works with local authority and parking operators from all over the UK and has more than 4 million registered users of the service worldwide.
For more information, contact Sharon Whelan at PayByPhone by calling 01707 600505 or email swhelan@paybyphone.com
To watch a video interview with PayByPhone user Donna Richardson, visit Horsham District Council’s YouTube page (www.youtube.com/horshamdc)