Many locals have noticed the mysterious disappearance of parking meters over recent weeks.
Only the plastic-wrapped stumps remain, offering puzzlement to those in search of a ticket and no end of fun to dogs who enjoy a challenge.
‘Have they been disembolished?’ one reader asks hopefully.
The answer is no. Some of them willl be back soon. A Council spokesperson tells us, ‘As part of a review of Ticket Issuing Machines, a number of machines considered surplus to requirement are being removed with the remainder to be upgraded to accept new £1 coins. The cost of machine upgrades has been accommodated within the existing Transport budget’.
In case you didn’t know already, 1.5 billion new 12-sided £1 coins began entering circulation this month.
The cost of recalibrating Edinburgh’s TIMs is £204,000. The number of TIMs which have reached the end of the road is 371. Some of these were underused, while others were simply old and uneconomic to maintain.
The timing of TIM reinstatements is not clear, but they will be retained around areas such as schools, hospitals and health care centres where short-term cash payments are practical if not exactly popular.
In the temporary or long-term absence of coin-operated TIMs, not paying is not an option. You are strongly advised to use RingGo, which operates using smartphone apps, web and phone.