A Suffolk council has seen a more than nine-fold increase in the number of customers using a cashless payment app to park in the last three years.
East Suffolk Council started using the RingGo service as part of a drive to encourage greater use of cashless payment apps and since 2020, the number of transactions made using the app to park in the council's car parks has risen from 150,000 prior to 2020 to 1.4 million in 2022/23.
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This change in payment method has removed approximately £2.4m in transactions using coin each year.
In June, the EADT revealed that the council had removed 30 pay and display machines in 2020 amid concerns that the switch to mobile phone apps would have an adverse impact on drivers who do not use phones, while unreliable signals could cause problems downloading apps.
Next Tuesday (July 11), the council's cabinet is due to decide whether to renew the contract with RingGo, which expired in April, with automatic annual renewal taking effect.
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In a report prepared for the cabinet, Councillor Toby Hammond, cabinet member with responsibility for economic development and transport, recommends renewing the RingGo contract.
He highlighted how the reduction in the use of coin had enabled the council to meet its environmental goals by saving 2.6 tonnes of carbon emissions annually from the council's fleet of diesel vans having to go around collecting the cash.
Cllr Hammond said: "The RingGo solution remains fit for purpose and meets the Council’s business needs and other solutions on the market do not offer the same range of services.
"To move to a different supplier at this time will cause major disruption for drivers
accessing the council’s parking services."
However, Dr Alexander Gimson, chair of Sizewell-based charity Wardens Trust, which provides support for older people, called for councils to still provide alternative methods of payment, including coin.
"There is a digital divide and some elderly people might not have smart phones and might not be able to access apps to pay for services like the rest of the population.
"I think we should still enable people to still be able to make coin payments. I think that facility should still be there."
Ann Osborn, leader of charity the Rural Coffee Caravan, which tackles social isolation, feared that older generations were going to feel 'undervalued' because of the growing trend towards taking away services they relied upon.
She said: "We just think that the practical ways that everything is being taken away from them is really concerning. It is like a section of the population is being sidelined."
She added there were parts of the county where there was either no, or a very poor, signal and it would not matter how digitally aware they were.
"They are going to feel undervalued and left behind and it is very worrying," she said.
An East Suffolk Council spokesperson said: “The RingGo mobile app is available to use in all demand managed (pay and display) car parks in the district.
“The app attracts approximately 100,000 regular users each month and currently collects 54.8% of parking fees, with the remainder collected by pay-and-display machines.
“It provides an alternative method of payment to the traditional cash operated pay-and-display machines, at least one of which remains in all car parks for those still wishing to pay by cash.
“RingGo is not a car park operator, but rather a method of paying the parking fee to the Council, and an equivalent to the pay-and-display machine.
“There has been no impact on the allocation of time limited free-to-use parking spaces, which remain free to use for a designated period, with motorists nevertheless still required to obtain a ticket from the nearby machine, or register their session on the app."
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