New payment app will save motorists money

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Motorists using a mobile phone to pay for parking at council car parks in Cheshire East will see a reduction in their charges.

From Thursday 1st October, the RingGo app will be replaced by PayByPhone as the new method of payment by phone. Residents and visitors parking in Cheshire East Council's car parks will benefit from a reduction from 20p to 7p per transaction, while it will also now be free for motorists to request confirmation of their booking and notification of when their parking period is due to expire.

In the last 12 months, half a million transactions have been made using RingGo, so it is anticipated that the new contract with PayByPhone will make huge savings for motorists across the borough.

Councillor Laura Crane, Cheshire East Council cabinet member for highways and waste, said: "I am very happy to see this change go live. We are working hard to ensure that our services provide value for money to our residents and this, whilst not making a saving for the council, is keeping more money in the pockets of local motorists.

"As we all fight hard to beat this virus, many are choosing to use non-contact methods such as this to pay for their car parking needs and I hope that this cost saving will enable more people to make the switch if they are able to, reducing a transmission risk within our community. This also includes our staff and contractors, who maintain and empty the cash from our payment meters, which will continue as normal."

RingGo will remain in use until midnight on Wednesday 30 September but we would encourage people to download 'paybyphone' on their mobile device as this will be the new means of paying for parking by phone from 1 October.

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Comments

Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.

Stephen Maynard
Tuesday 22nd September 2020 at 3:19 pm
Why do we need to pay to park especially at a time when local shops and businesses are struggling to attract customers into the area - surely common sense would say avoid finding ways to act as a disincentives to keep people away - I would have thought the Council would want to help keep the small businesses going as it’s in their long term interest to gain from the business rates
Carol Bland
Tuesday 22nd September 2020 at 5:04 pm
Steven , it makes no difference to the

council as even if the property is empty the

landlord still has to pay the business rates .
Alan Brough
Wednesday 23rd September 2020 at 10:19 am
What they are actually announcing is that, instead of paying 20p over and above the standard charge, from 1st October you will only have to pay 7p over and above the standard charge.

So the claim that the new app will save motorists money is deliberately misleading.