Pay and display machines are a subset of ticket machine

Ticket machine

A ticket machine, also known as a ticket vending machine , is a vending machine that produces tickets. For instance, ticket machines dispense train tickets at railway stations and tram tickets at some tram stops and in some trams...

s used for regulating parking

Parking

Parking is the act of stopping a vehicle and leaving it unoccupied for more than a brief time. Parking on one or both sides of a road is commonly permitted, though often with restrictions...

 in urban areas or in car parks. It relies on a customer purchasing a ticket from a machine and displaying the ticket on the dashboard

Dashboard

A dashboard is a control panel placed in front of the driver of an automobile, housing instrumentation and controls for operation of the vehicle....

, or windscreen or passenger window of the vehicle. Details included on a printed ticket are generally the location and operator of the machine, expiry time, fee paid and time entered.

Principles

Pay and display systems differ from road-side parking meter

Parking meter

A parking meter is a device used to collect money in exchange for the right to park a vehicle in a particular place for a limited amount of time. Parking meters can be used by municipalities as a tool for enforcing their integrated on-street parking policy, usually related to their traffic and...

s in that one machine can service multiple vehicle spaces, resulting in lower set up costs. In addition, this system theoretically prevents drivers from taking advantage of parking meters that have time remaining; this factor alone has doubled parking revenues in cities that have switched to pay and display. (A driver may occasionally take advantage of remaining time should a departing parker give away a ticket with remaining time, however.)

In addition, pay and display machines can also accept a wider variety of coins, and many even accept credit cards, making it unnecessary for drivers to carry large amounts of change. The use of credit cards has another advantage - the machines do not have to be emptied of coins as often, and the costs of counting coin and possible pilfering by employees who empty the parking meters also reduces their overall costs.

In the UK

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 pay and display is used for both on-street parking control and parking in car parks

Parking lot

A parking lot , also known as car lot, is a cleared area that is intended for parking vehicles. Usually, the term refers to a dedicated area that has been provided with a durable or semi-durable surface....

 and multi-storey car park

Multi-storey car park

A multi-storey car-park is a building designed specifically to be for car parking and where there are a number of floors or levels on which parking takes place...

s where access barrier systems are not installed.

Development

The first US Generation of Pay and Display machines was introduced in 1950 by Park-UR-Self based in San Francisco California. Park-Ur-Self has grown to become the leading manufacturer of Pay and Display Machines in the United States and now goes by the name Ventek International

Progressions of pay and display include pay by phone parking

Pay by phone parking

Pay-by-phone parking is a technological innovation which allows any driver parking in a fare required space the option to divert the expense to a credit card via the use of a mobile phone, mobile application or computer, opposed to inserting change or dollar bills into a parking meter or pay and...

; and Pay by Plate

Pay by Plate

Pay-by-plate machines are a subset of ticket machines used for regulating parking in urban areas or in car parks. They enable customers to purchase parking time and link it to their license plate...

, where payment is linked to a specific vehicle registration plate

Vehicle registration plate

A vehicle registration plate is a metal or plastic plate attached to a motor vehicle or trailer for official identification purposes. The registration identifier is a numeric or alphanumeric code that uniquely identifies the vehicle within the issuing region's database...

.

Coupon parking

Coupon parking is a variation of pay and display without the use of machines; instead, the motorist purchases a booklet of coupons in advance from the authorities. To use a parking coupon, the motorist has to completely tear off tabs of the date and time, or scratch off panels on the date and time in which he/she leaves the vehicle. This process is similar to disc parking

Disc parking

Disc parking is a system of allowing time-restricted free parking through display of a parking disc or clock disc showing the time at which the vehicle was parked. A patrolling parking attendant can inspect the disc to check whether payment is owed...

, except that a parking disc is reusable whereas a coupon can only be used once. In the Republic of Ireland

Republic of Ireland

Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

, reusable free-parking discs are unknown and parking coupons are called "parking discs". The coupon is displayed on the dashboard or hung from the top of a door window facing the roadside. Multiple coupons are used if the parking time exceeds the allowance given for a single coupon, though this is not always permitted. The system is widely used in Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

 and Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

, and in parts of some countries such as New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

, Malaysia, Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

, Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 and Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

.

See also

• Decriminalised parking enforcement
  Decriminalised parking enforcement
  Decriminalised parking enforcement is the name given in the United Kingdom to the civil enforcement of car parking regulations, carried out by civil enforcement officers, operating on behalf of either a local authority or a private firm. The Road Traffic Act 1991 Decriminalised parking enforcement...
  
  
• Parking guidance and information
  Parking guidance and information
  Parking guidance and information systems, or car park guidance systems, present drivers with dynamic information on parking within controlled areas. The systems combine traffic monitoring, communication, processing and variable message sign technologies to provide the service...