Parking apps

Sorry - I thought this would have the quote function which seems to have gone. This was in response to OP having trouble with the machines not taking card or cash and no signal in Wales.

You weren't in Colwyn Bay were you?
I had this issue there - machine ate one of my £1 coins so I then didn't have enough change even if it was working, card not working, no signal for app. I wanted to go to a cafe anyway so paid when I was there - but I did then notice that there were signs about the free WiFi all along the front near the machines.

Usually I don't mind using the app as I never have change.

The carparks I've visited recently in more rural areas have all had the option to pay within 24 or 48 hours. So it doesn't matter if there's no signal where you are, or if you have no smart phone, as you can take the details and pay when you get somewhere with WiFi or back to your computer. I think that's better as it's trying to be more accessible. Not perfect, but better.

I agree with the previous posters that having to pay a fee on top of paying for parking really pisses me off. They save on staff having to drive around emptying machines etc. so why isn't the fee paid by the parking owners? Oh, yes. It's so they can screw every single penny they can.

And as an aside. In Rye there is a street where you can park in a smallish car park, on the road right next to the car park. Both use the same app. Except the two locations are totally different numbers! So you go to pay on line and if you're not careful pay for the wrong area. Dodgy.

Totally agree, I have 5 apps, and that's covered me for most local and holiday places we've visited, it would be useful if all the carp park providers had signed up for one app. Having said that I prefer the app than having to remember/sort out change.
I also like that you increase your stay remotely, rather than have to revisit the car park when staying longer.
The only other annoyance I found was user error - I paid £7 for parking only to remember too late we were in my wife's car, not mine, and I couldn't transfer it afterward. Lesson learn tho

I’ve nothing against apps as long as there are alternative ways to pay (cash and card).

I'm all for the apps too. Very easy and quick, once you've actually downloaded the thing!
However, on a recent regular mini break, we had to park in the overflow carpark, next to the main carpark, which used a different app! Very irritating, especially as signal at this costal location is hit and miss (and different networks have varying signal). One bonus was that you can add other cars, which was needed this time as my parents network had no signal at all to download an different app! Being able to add extra time is pretty handy too.
But as agreed with pp's, it's a sign of the times trying to be more efficient and reduce staffing costs.

Same here. It was a bit of a pain when they were all starting up and for a year or so I was always having to download some new app. But now it’s fantastic. Much easier. Especially because I can top up if I’m going to be longer than planned without going back to the car.

I suggest you accept the inevitable and just prepare to get them set up on your phone. It’s definitely become much more normal over here but it’s easier if you can manage it. I do know it doesn’t suit everyone so well, but for me it’s great.

Apart from the fee, another thing that annoys me is that the signage is always really small and next to the pay machines. So I have the app and these days they use your location to suggest nearby car parks. But if you don't know the name of the car park you're in, you still have to traipse over to the pay machine to find the small sticker stuck to the side that tells you the car park number.

Why don't they have one massive sign that you can see from anywhere in the car park? If I'm walking over to the machine I might as well use cash because then I don't have to pay the fee. The fee for walking across the car park to find the number!!

One of the things in my manifesto for when in In Charge is parking apps - no more than 3 (need some competition) and no fees. Its cheaper for the provider to use the app than collect cash and run tap systems so why am i then paying the fee?!. I rant about this a lot.

Parking apps are part of the only 'war on the motorist', paying for parking. Card payments should be applicable everywhere, no phoning up, no apps etc and without them any penalty charge or indeed charge above £1 for parking should be illegal.

The signal in the Peak District is awful @User19543785, but that will be due to the topography. Unless they install telephone masts on every hill I don't see how else it could be improved.

What I don't understand is why the only other option to pay is cash. Why can't these machines accept card payments?

Why in this day and age is the signal so bad anyway in some places, surely a good signal everywhere is the most important thing and should be tackled as running our lives seem to depend on it now.

YABU. I love a good parking app, no faffing around. Nice and easy, and you can add time to it while you’re out and about.

I love parking apps. I never have change with me so it's much easier (though most machines have contactless now anyway) and I like that I can extend the time from wherever I am but my god, I wish we could just pick ONE BLOODY APP. Every council seems to have a different one and it's a pain in the arse.

Why should it cost more on an app, it should be cheaper surely, I remember years ago there was ring up to park and that was more expensive too

Cash parking machines need someone to service them and empty them. They are also subject to theft, and of course being broken in the course of theft. So it makes sense to councils and the like to move towards cashless payment. But, as posters have pointed out, even assuming you have the right app downloaded to your phone, you might not be able to get enough signal to pay. You can phone the parking company to pay......yeah right, there's no signal.....and speaking from (bitter!) experience that doesn't always work either. I was forced to upgrade an old but perfectly decent phone because it couldn't download these apps. I noticed in one car park that you have to remember to sign out as well as sign in, and wondered how many people forgot to do that and presumably got charged for longer than they needed, sad conclusion is that it is just another crafty way to extract money from you. Bastards!

I don't mind using the apps but I do begrudge paying more to use than than if I use coins.

I love being able to pay by an app.

I never have cash on me and not every car park takes card.

Also you don't have to guess how long you will be and rush back to the car if your time is running out.

It saves me money as I don't overestimate so I don't have to rush (see above) I can put say 2 hours on and if I'm going to be longer just top it up.

If you're visiting another town/county you can check on the apps beforehand how much they cost etc. and don't have to worry about machines not giving change or having to find change in the first place.

Absolute pain. What if you are only visiting the country and will have to download an app that you never need again using your roaming data. What if you have no smartphone, what if there is no signal?
I also wonder about the elderly, who are increasingly excluded by this kind of technology.
It’s very convenient for the parking company but not so much for the user.

But that’s how old school car parks with cash and tickets worked. You’d think about how long you’d need and buy the ticket for that long. The pain then would be that if you needed longer you had to go back to the car to buy another ticket rather than extend it on the app.

Went to the cinema yesterday and the machine wasn't accepting card payments, there were a lot of stressed out people trying to get the app sorted and not miss the start time of their film (including me).

Also in the U.K. I find it such a pain . Have no issue with contactless card ones , as the majority of cards are contactless , but the apps are not user friendly for a lot of the population. There are still some people who don’t have smart phones , or new enough phones for the apps to work .

I got caught out myself last year , as I don’t upgrade my phone until it gives up the ghost . Sod’s law on a day out to a place I’d never been before it turned out the upgrade to software I needed for a different parking app wasn’t available, so I couldn’t load the new parking app , two hours round trip away from home and ended up parking miles away from where I needed to be .

It's also a pain when you visit another country only to find the only payment option is by app. Trying to find coverage to download an app you'll likely only need once in your entire life is incredibly frustrating.
I do like being able to use my card for payment, but would prefer to have the option for card and cash on a ticket machine.

Tbf this is how most pay and display car parking has always worked, whether you're paying by cash, card or app.