PayByPhone has replaced RingGo as the mobile parking payment provider in South Tyneside. In partnership with South Tyneside Council, PayByPhone is offering residents and visitors to the area some handy tips to make parking stress-free this Christmas.
Cllr Joan Atkinson, Lead Member for Area Management and Community Safety at South Tyneside Council, said: “We are always looking to make it easier and simpler for those who live and work in South Tyneside to park across the borough. Nearly one million parking transactions take place in South Tyneside a year and with PayByPhone, drivers will find paying for parking with their phone even more convenient and easier than it is now.”
The partnership couldn’t have started at a better time with Christmas approaching. Thousands of people are expected to visit South Tyneside during the Christmas period and parking spaces will be in high demand.
“Teaming up with PayByPhone will help Christmas shoppers and those attending Christmas events to park more easily, quickly and with less stress. Each parking session can be started and extended in a matter of seconds, which means that users don’t need to carry cash or rush back to their cars to feed a meter. It’s nice to know that people can enjoy a relaxing day of Christmas shopping or the various Christmas events that are taking place in South Tyneside without having to dash back and forth to their cars,” Councillor Atkinson concludes.
Below are some valuable tips from South Tyneside Council and PayByPhone on how to make the parking experience less of a hassle, especially at Christmas.
- In December, South Tyneside Council is offering free festive parking in some busy locations. The ‘free after three’ initiative started on 1 December where council-owned car parks in South Shields town centre, South Tyneside’s busiest parking location, will be free of charge after 3pm, and all day on Sundays for the whole month.
- Other key car parks will also offer free Christmas parking including Mill Dam Car Park, St Hilda Street Car Park and The Word Car Park (three hour max stay).
- Set out with time to spare in case unforeseen road closures or traffic jams occur on the way.
- Need to stay longer? The PayByPhone app allows users to extend their parking sessions from anywhere. Drivers who paid with a ticket can also start a new session with PayByPhone when their parking time expires. Just remember to make a note of the location number.
- Remember to never leave pets or children unattended in the car.
PayByPhone mobile parking payment facilities will be available in 19 locations across the borough, consisting of 2,346 parking spaces.
Adam Dolphin, Sales Director for PayByPhone UK, says: “We are very excited to launch PayByPhone in South Tyneside. Using PayByPhone means an end to last minute rushing back to the pay-and-display machine as you can simply open the app and add more time to your current parking session. We encourage everyone who currently uses cashless parking for their parking sessions to download the PayByPhone app so they are ready to take advantage of the brand-new service. The registration is very simple and takes less than 30 seconds.”
