The city to get new parking meters

Over the next few days, around 30 parking meters will be replaced in the above-ground parking lots throughout the city. The old parking meters have been in use for around 13 years, and are now being replaced by modern, digital parking meters.

Just over two years ago, the city of Zug became the first Swiss city to launch the digital payment of parking fees via the TWINT app. The technically outdated parking meters in Zug, which date back to 2007, are now also being replaced.

"This is another step towards a smart city and simplifying the payment process.” says Councillor Urs Raschle, head of the Department of Social Affairs, Environment and Security, in a press release.

The new parking meters are online
For this reason, the TOM 2008 parking meters in the above-ground parking lots will be replaced by the new Presto Connect from IEM, according to the announcement of the city of Zug. These new parking meters have several advantages. They are online and, in addition to the well-known parking apps, they also allow cashless payment of parking fees using globally-accepted contactless debit/credit cards and mobile payments such as Samsung, Apple and Google Pay. This will make it easier to manage the cash payments on parking meters. In all cases, the driver will use his licence plate number instead of the previous parking space number, as is already the case when paying using the app solutions. Payment with small change still remains possible, of course. In case of  overpayment with coins, the overpaid amount will be credited to the licence plate for the next visit. When the car licence plate number is entered again and the parking time is dialled in, the credit amount can be used.

Photo 1: These old parking meters will be replaced
Photo 2: These new parking meters will now be used in the city of Zug.

With the new parking meters, a digital ticket can be requested via SMS and be printed out conveniently at home, which is an advantage for expense reports. The system change to the inputting of the number plate will take a bit of getting used to at the beginning, but is a simple change, and the user will be guided via the display.

The new parking meters of the company IEM AG from Rotkreuz, with head office in Geneva, were selected for two reasons. In addition to the app solutions, the evaluation was looking for a modern cashless payment system that is also accepted in shops, restaurants, shops, petrol stations, etc., and that would make the management of the payment easier. On the other hand, as an "energy city", it was important for the city of Zug that all the parking meters should be autonomously supplied with electricity via solar energy. Only this model met these two requirements.

In addition to the "ParkingPay", "EasyPark", "TWINT" and "ParkNow" apps, the new "SEPP" parking app will also be launched in the city of Zug at the end of September 2020. "SEPP" is already available in the surrounding municipalities.

The remaining parking meters of the Citea type from Hectronic will be replaced in 2021.