Wollongong City Council confirmed yesterday it had already collected $1660 since the first machines were installed at the beginning of this month.

With a flat fee of $2 in half-hour, one-hour or two-hour parking zones in the CBD, the figure equates to 830 motorists, or 75 each week day since March 1.

Any money collected before the official start of paid parking next Monday is being donated to Wollongong charity and 2010 Australia Day community award winner SCARF, which helps refugee families settle into Wollongong.

On March 2 the Mercury's front page warned motorists not to prematurely pay for parking.

However, no signs have been installed by the council to warn motorists that they are not required to use the machines.

Time limits are still being enforced by council rangers.

A Mercury survey of six CBD streets where the machines are already operating yesterday found seven out of 100 vehicles had "pay and display" tickets on their dashboards.

The largest number of people paying for parking were on Kembla St, near Woolworths, where one in four parked cars were displaying the receipts.

The council's property and recreation manager Peter Coyte said the council was "on track to complete the installation of 141 pay and display machines by Monday, March 22".

With just six days until the start of paid parking, 90 machines are in the ground and 60 of those have been commissioned. There are 51 machines that are still to be installed.

The machines will cover 850 parking spaces on the street and in the multi-storey Stewart St car park behind the council building. The paid zone will extend to Smith St in the north, Corrimal St in the east, Ellen St to the south and Railway Pde to the west.

On Friday the council will hold an information kiosk in Crown St Mall from 11am till 2pm to educate people how to use the new machines.

An information stand in the foyer of the council's Burelli St offices will also remain in place until the end of the month.