Licence plate recognition tech being used for parking enforcement
Auckland Transport now has a fleet of 23 of these cars – two more are set to join that fleet shortly.
The organisation's parking compliance manager Rick Bidgood says its the biggest fleet in the Southern Hemisphere.
"I have to keep up with the expansion of Auckland," he told 1News. "I can't do that by throwing more people, more people, more people."
The city has 173 on-foot parking officers, but using the vehicles means compliance staff can cover far more ground, far more quickly.
1News went for a ride-along in one of the licence plate recognition cars.
The automated cameras snap pictures of licence plates.
Pictures of vehicles that have stayed too long are reviewed the next day and a fine is issued.
"In my experience, the worst offenders are commuters, those who park and catch a bus into town to work," said parking officer Rob Harrison.
While AT has seen some spikes in infringement revenue, including when parking ticket fees increased nationwide last October, Bidgood said, overall, revenue has remained steady since the introduction of the vehicles.
"Compliance is a funny thing. The more consistent you do it, the better the compliance, the less issuance."
Other cities are also rolling out this tech.
Wellington has introduced 4 licence plate recognition cars to its parking services fleet, with their use to be expanded in the future.
A Christchurch City Council spokesperson told 1News: "We hope to have this technology operational and functional on our network in the near future."
Even smaller cities are using LPR cars.
A New Plymouth District Council Spokesperson told 1News the city "started using the system this week and have one car fitted out, with no plans for more".
Auckland Transport told 1News it only retains footage as evidence if an offence is challenged.
Otherwise it's deleted within 48 hours.
The organisation added that parking officers wouldn't be replaced, but upskilled with this new technology.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scoop
4 hours ago
- Scoop
How Effective Has The Road Cone Hotline Been?
More than 650 reports have been made to the road cone hotline within its first month, but how effective has it been on the streets of Auckland? It is lunchtime in central Auckland, and the Wellesley Street Upgrade project is well underway. One day it will be a connection to the City Rail Link - but right now there is construction noise and a bright orange line of road cones. "We work around here, so it's been like this forever. Just used to it now, but looking forward for them to go away," a woman who was heading out for lunch told First Up. Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke Van Velden announced significant shifts to rebalance WorkSafe's focus last month, kicking off with a road cone hotline. On the streets of Auckland, attitudes towards the hotline - which is actually an online form - were mixed. Some welcomed it. "I've been tempted (to report)," said one person. "I think there are way too many of them (road cones), I think they are overused." Some opposed it. "There's an excessive focus on road cones. They are a sign of progress, I love progress so I have no problem with excessive road cones." Some were not sure whether that was the solution to their problems. "Auckland has a lot of road works, but I don't know if I would call a hotline." Since launching in June, the hotline received nearly 400 valid reports in week one, 126 in week two, 71 in week three and 70 in week four. Road controlling authorities say The digital hotline collects complaints and sends reports to road controlling authorities. Among all road controlling authorities, Auckland Transport received the most complaints, with nearly 200 reported. Auckland Transport group manager for road corridor access Tracey Berkahn said she was not surprised. "I think that's fairly expected because we're the largest city, we've got the most people and we've also got quite a lot of development going on. So there are a lot of work sites." Berkahn said investigating all of the complaints had created quite a bit of extra work for her team of six, but it had led to improvements. "We had one particular case in Albany where it was in a business area where there was a piece of electrical maintenance work being done. We had diggers and generators and tools on site. But when we went out, we realised that the site probably had about 30 too many cones. The work site was larger than the plan what's submitted to us for approval, and we talked to the site supervisor and they removed about 30 cones to make that site smaller, to be less disruptive on the businesses and the motorists in the area." Berkahn said on an average day, there were 2000 active sites in Auckland. Among the 200 sites investigated from the hotline reports, 30-40 percent of them had either too many or too few cones. "Quite often when we go out (to investigate), we find where the customer thinks there are too many cones, it might be that there's been a lane created for pedestrians. And if you're driving past in a car, all you can see are orange cones. But if you're walking down that lane as a pedestrian, you're much safer because you're kept away from the machinery on the work site and the cars on the road are kept away from you." Berkahn said Auckland Transport had an existing cone reporting system, but the hotline generated greater public awareness. "The one thing that I would like listeners to understand is that it's been really positive having this relationship with WorkSafe and being able to contact customers about their queries and explain sometimes why those sites are necessary and how they're providing safety." Wellington City Council received 57 complaints in the first week but after a month that had dropped to just 8. The council declined to be interviewed but in a statement said they believed complaints had fallen because the novelty of the hotline is wearing off, and that no cones has been removed due to a hotline report. Meanwhile, Christchurch City Council has received 40 complaints. In a statement, transport operations manager Stephen Wright sid while they found most of the sites were compliant, any issue that needed to be addressed by the contractor were discussed from an education approach in the first instance, but it was up to the contractor to decide whether the cones were needed or not. NZTA, who received the 140 complaints, did not respond to First Up's request for comment. Word on the streets Back on the streets, Temporary Traffic Management workers were split on whether the road cones themselves - and the hotline - worked. "I think there's too many of them and it's a great idea there is an 0800 number," a worker with four years' experience in site management told First Up. "I think that (the hotline) is an overkill. There isn't a problem unless it's blocking a car park or it's limiting businesses to customers. Now I think the problem is people like myself are kind of bending those rules - more cones have been putting out than what's needed and some don't pick up their gear after they've finished their site. But then the other flip side to that coin is gear getting stolen, so therefore what was safe before was not safe anymore because there weren't enough cones. "If it weren't for people like me, people would be driving into trenches and driving into holes," a TTM manager with more than 10 years of experience told First Up. RNZ asked another worker how he would feel if I took half of the cones away from his site. It was a definite "no" from him. He said sometimes when pedestrians saw a gap between the cones they would try to cross the road, and the closely lined up cones kept pedestrians safe and made sure they followed the rules. WorkSafe said the road cone hotline will be reviewed at the end of the year.
1News
5 hours ago
- 1News
Kiwi creator on why he turned down huge offers to plug online gambling
A New Zealand content creator is speaking out about the harms of gambling after revealing he was offered more than $500,000 to promote offshore gambling websites. Louis Davis is a Kiwi content creator with a following of over 3 million across all platforms, and has taken to his social media platforms to warn others about the risks. Speaking with Breakfast this morning, Davis said he received the promotional offers in his email inbox. "We get hammered with emails every day, they're pretty consistent," he said. When asked on why he decided to turn down the offer, he said that gambling promotions are causing real harm in communities and were encouraging addictive behaviour. ADVERTISEMENT 'We are living in an age now where you can gamble in your car, on the toilet, or at work. The morning's headlines in 90 seconds, including deadly Texas floods, Australian woman attacked by a lion, and Elon Musk's new political party. (Source: 1News) 'There used to be a time and a place for it, but now because of our phones we have access 24/7 to it. 'If they're offering me over $500,000 to ask you to gamble, imagine how much they're stealing from you.' Data from the Department of Internal Affairs showed that in 2022/23, New Zealanders lost $2.76 billion gambling on the four regulated gambling sectors - Lotto New Zealand, TAB NZ, casinos and class 4 gambling (pokies). Growing up in Northland, Davis said he witnessed the impacts of gambling firsthand. "I see the harm of this in my communities, and what it takes from us." he told Breakfast. ADVERTISEMENT "There's a reason they give money to people that look like me. They're going after my community." Davis said he would love to see changes around the rules of advertising, so people don't continue to be tempted by offers from gambling companies. "People get put in this real hard position, where it's undeniable life-changing money. I almost have empathy for people who have to make that decision," "I'd love to see changes made to that system; I don't want it to be a decision people have to make." DIA has been cracking down on the promotion of offshore gambling, sending cease-and-desist letters to some influencers, and monitoring other accounts. Millie Elder-Holmers was recently fined $5000 for promoting online gambling. Under the Gambling Act it is illegal to publish an advertisement for an offshore gambling operator.
1News
9 hours ago
- 1News
Boost to Govt's flagship childcare rebates after uptake issues
Childcare rebates from the Government's flagship FamilyBoost scheme will rise with eligibility expanded, Finance Minister Nicola Willis has announced. Willis announced the changes this morning, which will see rebates increasing from 25% to 40% of weekly fees. Those with household incomes of up to $229,000 are now also eligible to apply. It comes after the programme saw lower-than-expected uptake. "This means for example that a family with early childhood fees of $100 a week could have their weekly FamilyBoost payment increased from $25 a week to $40 a week, meaning their annual payments would increase from $1300 to $2080 over the course of a year, making them hundreds of dollars better off," she said. Legislation giving effect to the changes will be introduced in time for the increases to be in place when households next claim rebates in October. Changes will apply to fees incurred from July 1. ADVERTISEMENT Willis said, "tens of thousands of households will be better off thanks to the changes". "FamilyBoost rebates are calculated according to the weekly fees parents pay, so the maximum payment is also increasing, from $75 a week to $120 a week." Labour declares the Government's FamilyBoost scheme a flop, Finance Minister blames officials. (Source: 1News) The maximum refund is only available to those who pay weekly fees of $300 or more. "However, it's important to note that parents at all fee levels can now claim 40% of their total fees, so these changes will result in bigger payments for many families who already take part in the scheme," the Finance Minister said. 'Cabinet has also decided to increase the number of families eligible for the scheme by reducing the abatement rate for families earning more than $140,000. "This means the upper limit for households to receive a portion of FamilyBoost increases from $180,000 a year of income to just under $230,000." ADVERTISEMENT Willis said the change to the scheme would be accommodated within existing funding dedicated to FamilyBoost when it was introduced at Budget 2024. "I encourage all households who think they may be eligible for FamilyBoost to register for it on Inland Revenue's website. Families who have done so tell us it is simple to do and only takes five minutes," she said. The Finance Minister had said up to 100,000 families could benefit from the childcare subsidy - so far, nearly 60,000 have registered and 41,550 claims have been approved. (Source: 1News) "FamilyBoost is paid out every three months. The changes will apply to fees paid from July 1, with claims available to be made from October 1. "We have also asked officials to progress work on longer-term improvements to the scheme, including by having fees information provided directly to Inland Revenue by ECE providers." The Government's FamilyBoost programme was part of the coalition's flagship set of cost-of-living initiatives introduced last year, including tax cuts. When FamilyBoost was first introduced, officials estimated that up to 100,000 families could be eligible for portions, with 21,000 entitled to the full payment. ADVERTISEMENT But to date, 60,000 families have received payments from the scheme, and fewer — with April data suggesting only hundreds — receiving the full $75-a-week amount. Families have four years to claim FamilyBoost refunds, and as a result, the final actual uptake will not be known for some time and will depend on how many families choose to apply for the scheme, a Government spokesperson said. 'Too little, too late' - opposition slams low uptake Labour has previously called the policy a hard-to-access "bureaucratic nightmare" on the basis of uptake figures, and deemed it a "failure". Acting finance spokesperson Megan Woods said today's changes were a sign the Government was "scrambling". 'More than halfway through their term, the Government is only now scrambling to tweak a scheme that's barely reached a fraction of the families they promised to help 'Even worse, families won't see a cent of this so-called relief until October. If Nicola Willis truly understood the cost-of-living crisis then she'd have acted a long time ago," she said. But some parents say Labour's plan would've been a bigger boost and easier to get. (Source: 1News) ADVERTISEMENT Meanwhile, the Greens' early childhood education spokesperson Benjamin Doyle used the Government announcement to call for an end "profit-driven ECE sector". "$15 more a week for a small number of families who can jump through the hoops to apply is a pittance in this cost-of-living nightmare. We need a whole system reset."
