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From 3 October, three of Oxford's popular Park and Ride facilities are to reintroduce charges for parking, with phone payments provided by RingGo. The move comes as the Park and Ride service returns to the management of Oxford City Council, after a three year period operating under Oxford County Council. Budgetary pressures mean the subsidy for operating the service, which amounts to approximately £1million, is no longer sustainable. The City Council is therefore reintroducing charges to address this deficit and to ensure equity of payment by all users. Since charges were removed, many motorists have parked for free at the facility without travelling into the City, reducing the efficiency of Park and Ride for genuine users. Motorists will be able to pay for their parking cashlessly, either using RingGo's smartphone apps or by calling the standard RingGo number as they park. With RingGo offered in the City of Oxford since May 2008, the many thousands of motorists that have used the service will already be registered, ensuring that payment times are kept to a minimum. Longer term weekly and four weekly RingGo tickets are to be offered online, catering for commuters and other longer term parkers. This allows motorists to pay in advance for their parking and be reminded, by text message, shortly before their season ticket is due to run out. As well as offering customers the option of paying by credit or debit card for their parking, introducing RingGo means that machine purchase, cash collection and maintenance costs can be substantially reduced over the previous operation, according to Jason Munro, Acting Parking Manager for Oxford City Council. "Three years ago we charged parking fees for motorists that use the park and ride facility," he says, "but at that time we had seven pay and display machines in each car park. With the introduction of RingGo, we're able to reduce the number of machines to just three per car park, providing substantial savings in terms of operating costs for the Council. "The new machines provide a better service too, as customers no longer need to walk, the sometimes substantial distance from their vehicle to the machine and back again, to place a ticket in their car. Registrations are now captured at the point of sale, enabling us to digitally enforce all parking payments across the entire car park." The service changes are being promoted in advance, through leaflets and other collateral, and motorists are encouraged to register online. |
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