Parking will be free in Wollongong's city centre today, as the council switches off its 141 controversial pay-and-display parking meters and begins the transition to pro rata parking fees.
From Monday, the unpopular flat fee for parking in the CBD will be abolished and motorists will be able to pay only for the time they expect to use.
Shoppers, workers and residents can pay as little as 10cents to buy six minutes in the majority of spaces.
Parking will be charged at $1 an hour (50cents for half an hour) in 30-minute, one-hour and two-hour parking zones.
In longer three and four-hour zones, parking will cost 75cents an hour.
The number of free 15-minute spaces will more than double from 32 to 72 slots and parking will be free on weekends.
Wollongong City Council property and recreation manager Peter Coyte said parking meter contractor Duncan Solutions would deploy crews today and tomorrow to reprogram the machines.
The front face plate of each meter and a card in the top window will also be replaced.
Council staff will install new signs to reflect the earlier 4.30pm finishing time for meters and the increased time limits for 168 spaces.
Work on replacing the signs started yesterday, and will continue tonight.
Mr Coyte conceded the council had learned from teething problems when meters were introduced in March. The problems included complaints from motorists who were fined when the time limit on signs did not match the time that could be paid for in meters.
"We are trying to put as many quality control measures in place as possible," Mr Coyte said.
"It has been a bit like a D-Day operation this time.
"We have taken a lot more roles on ourselves, rather than outsourcing. We are making sure things are working correctly."
Council staff will walk the streets tomorrow doing "quality control checks", inserting coins into the meters and checking signs.
On Monday, contractors will replace ticket rolls in each machine with tickets that have a watermark to indicate the relevant time zone.
Tickets with time remaining on them can then be reused in an equivalent (or longer) time zone.
The council's quality control teams will then check on Tuesday that each machine has the correct ticket roll.
Mr Coyte said the council had advertised the changes extensively through newspapers and radio, and distributed brochures explaining the new system.
"The look of the machines should tell people it is a substantially different machine."
He advised people to follow the three-step process shown on the machines and if in doubt, obey the time restrictions shown on signs.
Four parking meters at the southern end of Church St, between Bank and Ellen streets, will also be removed over the weekend.
"Those spaces will be unrestricted from Monday," Mr Coyte said.
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