Since January 2002 a number of local authorities in The Netherlands have introduced Chip Only for street parking. There are two possibilities for Chip Only payments. Both take care of a fast and smooth payment for street parking, compared to the usage of coins. Other possibilities for electronic payments are PIN payments or credit cards. Both possibilities are not really suited for payments in the case of street parking. PIN payments require an online connection with the car park ticket machine. Beside this an online transaction takes longer then an offline transaction. Credit card payments are possible both online and offline. An offline payment increases the risk for local authorities. The advantages of Chip Only for a local authority are mainly related to making the car park ticket machines less attractive for theft and vandalism, saving on control and maintenance and improving service. For the user the main advantage is related to the fact that no money needs to be changed. Disadvantages are among other things, related to being less familiar with the usage of the "chipknip". A number of important aspects related to the introduction of Chip Only for street parking are: communication with users, collection of Chip Only and possible start up problems. (Author/publisher)
Abstract