Paula Ronald has no doubts Victoria's new computerized parking stations will be a success.
"I think they're going to fly," Ronald says.
She should know.
Over the last couple of weeks, Ronald, a city parking ambassador, has been walking motorists through the paces of the new system.
"It's a little tricky," motorist John Chase says after reading the prompts and pumping a loonie into one of the new park-and-go pay stations on Broad Street.
"You have to remember to put in the stall number," Ronald advises.
"Oh, I hate that," counters Chase, but he's smiling as he says it.
"The whole space-number thing is the biggest issue," Ronald says. "But once they do it once they get the idea."
"There's a little bit of a learning curve," says Chris Lloyd as he punches his parking-stall number into another of the machines. "I can see people finding it a little complicated."
Under the new system being introduced on Broad Street and around the legislature, motorists have to punch in the number of their parking stall, then pay for the amount of time they want.
There's no need to put the receipt on the dash. A hand-held reader will tell commissionaires what stalls have been paid for.
But most people, still digging out their coins or credit card while approaching the pay station for the first time, haven't thought to even look for a space number.
Last month, 21 of the new stations were installed around the legislature and six on Broad between Pandora Avenue and View Street. The city's goal is to replace about 1,900 old and failing parking meters with 250 of the new computerized pay stations.
Most people, after they go back for their stall numbers, cotton onto the new system quickly.
"It's really very easy," says Ronald.
Not surprisingly, in Victoria, where "I liked it better the old way" should be emblazoned on the city crest, many of the complaints are not about how the new machines work but the fact they are being changed at all.
"The number-one [complaint] is that they had to pay for parking and after that it was the change. The use of the machine has been good," says Ronald.
For the uninitiated, there will be some minor frustrations. Modifications are planned to better identify the "green" button on the machines, which actually looks more grey than green.
And while the new pay stations accept credit cards, they don't accept the old city-issued parking-meter pay cards. Victoria is issuing new cards that will work in the machines, and will transfer time from your old card onto the new one.
Victor Van den Boomen, city manager of parking services, is not surprised most motorists are finding the new stations easy to use.
"The whole idea of these machines is that it's supposed to be intuitive," he said.
During the trial period, the city is inviting feedback so it can fine-tune the system before it introduces the rest of the stations.
The test period is over at month's end. After evaluation and modifications, the bulk of the new stations should arrive in July. Installation will then start near the legislature and spread out across town.
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