A woman in an affluent Australian suburb has sparked heated debate over ‘cashless’ payments after a major overhaul of parking facilities in the area.
The resident discovered that recently renovated parking meters in North Sydney only accept digital payments.
‘New parking meters in North Sydney do NOT appear to accept cash, so if we want to park in the North Sydney area we need our mobile phones as they do not appear to accept cards either,’ the furious woman wrote online.
‘I thought cash was still a form of payment in Australia and since North Sydney is part of Australia, cash should be accepted.
“I believe this move is illegal and these meters should be removed immediately. Another problem is that they are difficult to identify – they look more like ashtrays than parking meters.”
The change is not illegal as a legitimate payment method is still accepted.
In Australia, the debate has flared up again in recent months after a teenager revealed she had “no idea” what to do with $5 bills. Research has also shown that people spend more money when they pay cashless.
North Sydney City Council decided to ban cash after only one in 26 visitors used cash.
North Sydney City Council decided to go cashless after only one in 26 visitors used cash
a rack from the council: ‘Over the past year, the number of people paying for parking with coins has fallen to less than 4 percent.
‘In addition, failures in our existing parking meters are primarily caused by vandalism and coin machines jamming. Removing coin payments ensures that our parking meters remain reliable in the long term, as it reduces these ongoing maintenance costs.’
Many North Sydney residents criticised the woman’s anger.
‘This system allows you to pay as you park and control the time via your phone, so you avoid parking tickets where you have to run back to your car in a panic because you didn’t put in enough 50c coins,’ someone argued.
“You’re angry that you have to have your cell phone with you to park, when you took a picture of the parking meter with your cell phone,” another commented.
Others saw the problem in making mobile phones mandatory for parking fees.
“It seems like smartphones are now also required to drive a car and use a meter. What if you go out without your phone? I personally think it’s fine not to accept cash, but at least make sure you can tap it and go,” said one woman.
“It’s a bit ridiculous that you have to download an app to use a parking meter,” added another. “Older people may not have a smartphone or know how to scan a QR code.”