THE City of Melbourne today announced plans to examine new technology to modernise the way parking is managed in the city.

The Council said its current parking and traffic management practices were established in the late 1950s and that technology now exists "which could transform and improve the way we do business."

According to the Council, the proposed technology would mean a more consistent and reasonable approach to parking enforcement with a five minute grace period built in across the entire municipality.

The technology being proposed includes:

• In ground sensors that record when a vehicle enters and leaves a parking bay;
• Licence plate recognition systems to identify a vehicle via its number plate in some residential areas;
• Pay-by-phone trial that would allow motorists to make a payment for on-street parking using a mobile telephone, in addition to the existing coin machine options. The trial will take place in a small section in the northern end of the city; and
• Updating hand held devices where Council officers would receive a message that indicates when a vehicle has overstayed the permitted time restrictions.

Councillors supported the proposal at a meeting last night, resolving to go to tender and begin a consultation process with staff and stakeholders.