Parking Lot - Payment

Payment

Various forms of technology are used to charge motorists for the use of a parking lot.

Boom gates are used in many parking lots. A customer arrives to the entry ticket machine by vehicle, presses the ticket request push button, takes a ticket and enters the car park via the now raised barrier. To exit the parking lot, the customer presents the ticket to a cashier in a booth at the exit and tenders payment, after which the cashier opens the boom gate.

In 1954, the first automated unmanned parking lots were built where for a monthly fee a driver with a magnetic key card could enter and exit the parking lot by raising and lowering the boom.

A more modern system uses automatic pay stations, where the driver presents the ticket and pays the fee required before returning to their car, then drives to the exit terminal and presents the ticket. If the ticket has not been paid for, the boom barrier will not raise and will force the customer to either press the intercom and speak to a staff member, or reverse out to pay at the pay station or cashier booth.

At the parking lots of some major airports in the United States, a driver can choose to swipe a credit card at the entry ticket dispenser instead of taking a ticket. When the driver swipes the same credit card at the exit terminal upon leaving the lot, the applicable parking fee is automatically calculated and charged to the credit card used.

In older systems in Hong Kong, drivers pay the cashiers at the shroff offices (which are often located elsewhere from the entrances and exits of carparks) with their tickets. If a ticket has not been paid, the barrier will not raise. Cashiers and shroff officers are in recent years often replaced with automated machines.

Another variant of payment has motorists paying an attendant on entry to the lot, with the way out guarded by a one-way spike strip that will only allow cars to exit.

Parking meters can also be used, with motorists paying for the time required for the bay they are parked in.

Other parking lots operate on a pay and display system, where a ticket is purchased from a ticket machine, and then placed on the dashboard of the car. Parking enforcement officers patrol the parking lot to ensure compliance with the requirement.

Similar to this is the system where the parking is paid by the mobile phone by sending an SMS message which contains the license plate number. In this case, the virtual cashier books the car and the time when the message is sent, and later a new SMS message must be sent whenever the time is due. The actual payment is then done via the mobile phone bill.

In the United Kingdom, it has been possible to pre-book parking with specialist companies, such as BCP, since 1978. This is prevalent at all airports, major ports and in city centres.