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Christina Persico / Stuff
NPDC is disabling 440 out of 1600 parking sensors due to a malfunction.
More than a quarter of New Plymouth’s 1,600 parking sensors are faulty and need to be turned off, less than two years after they were replaced.
“A technical failure means that we cannot guarantee that the sensor batteries will function as they should,” said Teresa Turner, customer and community services group manager for the New Plymouth District Council (NPDC), in a statement.
As a result, 440 of the sensors are shutting down.
“We are deactivating them as a precautionary measure in the interest of public safety.”
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The exact details of the malfunction have yet to be revealed.
However, the council said it was not the first time the sensors had failed; earlier this month, the supplier had to replace 62.
A second incident of a similar nature occurred earlier this week, the statement added.
“We will work hard to make sure the provider covers the cost of these incidents,” Turner said.
However, drivers were warned not to expect free parking in the city as a result of the problem.
The location of the malfunctioning sensors has not been disclosed and parking rules will continue to be enforced.
“The parking rules remain the same and our parking team will continue to review.”
Christina Persico / Stuff
The city’s 1,600-sensor, 90-machine parking system was installed in 2012.
Mayor Neil Holdom said the sensors had “failed and broken” and had been broken.
“I think it’s important that the vendor stands behind their product and pays for any service interruptions and any lost revenue.
“It appears that the supplier is working to support their product and stick to the contract, which is appropriate and something to look forward to.”
Holdom said this would mean that taxpayers would not have to absorb the cost.
“I understand that they have responded very well to this problem, as it should be.”
In 2012, 1600 sensors and 90 payment machines were installed at a cost of $ 1.2 million.
Five years later, it was discovered that the sensors on the ground and the communication controllers that send the sensor signal to the parking officers’ handheld devices needed to be replaced.
As a result, in January 2019, 1,500 of the roadside sensors were replaced at a cost of $ 800,000.
