In a first for local government in New South Wales, Mosman Council has updated its parking permit system to online system vPermit, and all parking permits issued by Council are now digital.
The system means drivers apply for and manage their own virtual permits online through a secure website.
They are not required to attend Council to organise a permit or to attach and display one on their car.
Applicants can organise their permits from home at any time convenient to them, and permit holders can transfer a permit to another vehicle up to four times a year at no additional cost, with changes taking effect immediately.
This year approximately 9000 annually issued parking permits were renewed and switched from stickers to digital permits within a two month time frame.
This followed the switching of an initial 1000 permits to digital in October last year.
General Manager, Dominic Johnson, said migrating Council’s parking permits to the online system was a huge project that involved collaboration between a number of different units in council, led by the customer service team.
“Transferring approximately 10,000 parking permit holders to a new 100 percent online system was always going to be a challenge, but staff worked hard to make residents comfortable and I’m proud to say we had very few issues and the new system has been embraced by the community.”
The upgrade is part of Council’s ongoing efforts to utilise technology to improve efficiency, and modernise and simplify services for residents.
“We have a keen eye on innovation and recognise the value of making technology work for us.
“The digital vPermit system is a good example of moving a traditional legacy process to new technology, to make it far more efficient operationally and easier for residents.
“There are very clear benefits, and after the process we received a lot of positive feedback from the community.
“Generally it’s been received as a natural and welcome progression to using new technology that makes residents’ lives a little simpler and easier.”
