Motorists using metered parking in Christchurch’s city centre are being encouraged to download a new parking app as the texting service comes to an end.

The company that provides ‘TXT A Park’ has decided to discontinue the service from 1 July.

Council Transport Operations Manager Steffan Thomas says the best option for smartphone users is the PayMyPark app, which can be downloaded for free from Google Play and the App Store.

The Council is trialling the app for a year.

If the trial goes well, it will consider accepting online payments for on-street metered parking on a permanent basis.

Mr Thomas says when people use the PayMyPark app, they will need to enter the parking area code which is displayed on the side of each parking meter.

You can choose to pay per session as a casual user or you can set up an account.

With an account in the app, you can pay for the time you’ve parked using stop-start parking and you can receive an alert when your paid parking is about to expire.

You have the option of extending your time remotely so that you don’t need to run back to put money in a meter.

People will still need to adhere to the time restrictions that are in place – if you’re in a two-hour paid parking spot you can’t just keep topping up to stay beyond the two hours.

Businesses can also create a PayMyPark organisation account.

This allows them to maintain a list of company vehicles using an organisation payment method.