Shoppers using the St Andrews Street car park in Bury St Edmunds now have another way to pay.

East Anglian Daily Times: A pay on exit trial will be trial at St Andrews Street car park in Bury St Edmunds Picture: GOOGLE MAPSA pay on exit trial will be trial at St Andrews Street car park in Bury St Edmunds Picture: GOOGLE MAPS (Image: Archant)

West Suffolk Council has been piloting pay on exit parking at the car park and has now introduced the RingGo phone app as another option.

The RingGo service allows people to pay via mobile phone.

Although customers pre-pay for parking, the service offers a message to people to let them know when their parking is about to run out, offering them the chance to top it up via their mobile device and stay longer.

The Flexi-Park scheme, which is cashless, was launched in the summer and runs alongside other short and long stay tariffs in the town offering people a choice as to the type of parking they use.The trial has also seen the introduction of a check-out only machine, installed near the vehicle exit to reduce queuing at busy periods, and boosted network connection to make the car parking machines work faster and more reliably.The introduction of RingGo was welcomed by the Our Bury St Edmunds Business Improvement District (BID), which represents more than 400 town centre business members.Chief executive Mark Cordell said: "I think it is important that this trial be allowed to continue and with all the improvements that have been made, I hope that shoppers and visitors wishing to make the most of their day out in Bury St Edmunds will take full advantage of it."Businesses in the town have previously raised concerns with us that they were potentially missing out on sales, with customers cutting their time short to get back to their car before their ticket expired."We know that Bury St Edmunds isn't just a place people come to shop."They also come for the cafes, the restaurants, the market and the events that we, and the Council put on to attract visitors. That is why we have pushed for this trial of pay on exit parking."I am delighted with these improvements which further demonstrate West Suffolk Council's commitment to working with us, as it is on a number of issues, to support the town centre economy."