Last December residents of Canada's skiing city Whistler B.C., were able to take up the offer of a council operated scheme to utilise in-car meters for parking payment. Following the success of a pilot using hand-held parking units, Bill Barratt of the Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) launched a programme that involves motorists purchasing an in-car device along with a rechargable smartcard.

When the motorist parks in a council-run parking bay they activate the unit by swiping their card, they then display the unit on the car dashboard so that parking attendants can check for proof payment. When the parking even is over they swipe their card again and a deduction is made for the exact period - calculated to the second. The council is also looking into offering a two-tiered parking rate system so that locals will benefit from discounted fees.

Speaking at the launch, Barratt was proud to add: "I think that in this programme, theres room for exploring a large number of additional options."