New Brisbane parking app to be rolled out next week

A new parking app will launch next week in Brisbane, with PayStay to operate alongside the existing CellOPark system from March 17.

“We believe more choice for residents is always a good thing,” Brisbane City Council infrastructure chair Ryan Murphy said.

The free app requires users to sign up with an email address and upload their bank details to pay for parking.

Street signs explaining the new payment option will be installed from next week.

The office of Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said the introduction of a second app would reduce reliance on physical parking meters, which cost about $1.7 million to maintain each year.

A spokesperson said there were no plans to remove existing meters.

The council introduced the option of app payment in 2009, and it now accounts for more than half of all parking transactions.

More than a quarter of the paid car spaces across the city – about 2600 of 8350 – are digital-only.

PayStay is used at Griffith University and by councils across the country, including the City of Sydney.

Councillor Danita Parry previously confirmed the company had won the contract through a competitive tender.

Last year the Labor opposition was critical of the plan for a new app, but this week placed its focus on increased revenue from parking fines.

“The announcement of a new parking app provider is fine, but the real conversation should be about where over $32 million worth of parking fines goes,” leader Jared Cassidy said.

“We saw two weeks ago that the money we raise goes back into feeding an increasingly expensive parking enforcement regime, rather than building the infrastructure and delivering the services our growing city needs.”

The CellOPark app caused confusion in December 2024, when Brisbane motorists received contradictory emails about a planned changeover to a new app called OPark.

The first email told users their CellOPark accounts would be transferred to the new app.

Twenty-four hours later, another email claimed the first one was sent “by the local representative in breach of his obligations” and that there was no connection between the two brands.

Last year, this masthead revealed AI was increasingly being used to issue parking fines.

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