Wanganui District Council is currently consulting the public on the Proposed Parking Management Plan which sets out how Council will manage parking provision and maintenance, in and around the central city area, over the next 20 years.

To help inform the Plan, the Parking Services Team is also collecting data on timed parking areas and is using Smart Eye technology to measure the ways in which these parking zones are currently used.

Sensors have been placed in some parking bays in St Hill Street for about six weeks to monitor parking patterns. The parking bays are between Guyton Street and Ingestre Street, on the same side of the road as the Energy Direct building, and have time limits of 120 minutes (P120) and 15 minutes (P15).

"Using technology to assess parking patterns is something new for Wanganui District Council," says Cr Ray Stevens, Infrastructure and Property Committee Chair.

"The Smart Eye sensors are bright yellow circles, fixed into the concrete and measure the comings and goings of vehicles in the parking bays. This enables data to be gathered about the ways in which the bays are used - whether people are using them as brief stopovers when dropping things off, or are using them for longer stays, in which case we can reassess whether a longer time limit might be needed for some bays.

"The most important thing for the trial to be a success is that motorists use the car parking bays as they usually do, otherwise the trial data will not accurately reflect usual patterns of use.

"The Smart Eye sensors do not capture information relating to licence plate details or car type - they just measure when the bay is in use and how long for.

"They might look a bit off-putting or unusual but it's really just business as usual for those areas."

The Smart Eye parking trial will continue for around six weeks and the trial data will feed into the Wanganui Parking Management Plan.