The amount of drivers pinged annually by Auckland Transport’s license plate recognition vehicles has almost doubled.

Data provided to Newstalk ZB shows the licence plate recognition vehicles issued more than 518,000 fines last year.

That’s almost twice as many as the 261,713 fines they gave out in 2023.

The cars scan licence plates to see if a vehicle has overstayed its paid time in a parking spot.

If a violation is detected, the system can issue an infringement notice.

Parking Services group manager John Strawbridge said the rise was because the fleet increased from nine cars in 2023 to 16 last year.

He said the most common type of infringement is failing to pay for parking in paid zones.

Auckland Transport group manager of parking services John Strawbridge says the most common type of infringement is failing to pay for parking in paid zones.  Photo / Chris Gorman, File

“That’s a $70 fine. It does my head in because if you use the AT Park app, for example, you only pay for the short time you’re there.”

He said people would very rarely pay $70.

AA policy director Martin Glynn said the jump between 2023 and 2024 is large, and they had asked AT about it.

He said he hopes the system is being used for the stated goal of keeping parking spots clear.

“In the past year or so, they’ve been set some pretty big revenue targets by the mayor and Auckland Council from areas they can get revenue from, including parking.”

Strawbridge said while no one likes getting a parking fine, there needs to be a way to manage kerbs and other spots.

“If we didn’t manage the kerbside, there’d be cars parked everywhere, it would be unsafe, and there’d be very limited opportunity for people to come into the city and find a spot,” he said.

Strawbridge said the Auckland Domain is a good example of how the license plate recognition vehicles had helped, with the consistent enforcement keeping the domain at 65% capacity.

Strawbridge said the Auckland Domain is a good example of how the licence plate recognition vehicles had helped, with the consistent enforcement keeping the domain at 65% capacity. Photo/ Hayden Woodward

“Prior to the LPR cars, we were only able to get up there on foot infrequently, so there was no parking availability.”

Glynn said the cars provide another potential benefit.

“We know it’s become more unsafe for parking wardens, so there’s an advantage to doing it in that automated way where people don’t receive their tickets on the spot.”

Jacob Jones is a Newstalk ZB reporter working out of the Auckland newsroom. He has an interest in council and local government issues.