"Admin fee" in Sand Street and Waterfront car park (FOI)

​Request

1. What department / company collects the “admin fee” on the parking card machines in Sand Street Car Park and also the underground car park at the Waterfront?
2. Why was the admin fee only added to the waterfront car park last year? Prior to that, the charge was for parking only and no “admin fee” incurred.

Response

1.

• Sand Street Car Park: Department for Infrastructure
• Waterfront Car Park: States of Jersey Development Company (SoJDC)

2. SoJDC owns and operates the Waterfront underground car park and collects the “admin fee” to cover the charges that are raised by the credit or debit card company intermediaries. 

These intermediaries act as the interface between SoJDC’s bank and the customer’s bank. SoJDC is charged between 15p and 20p per transaction by these intermediaries and passes this cost onto its customers. 

Customers of the Waterfront car park have the option to pay in cash or via a top-up card (akin to a Transport for London Oyster Card) avoiding the 20p admin fee. SoJDC did not charge the admin fee when the machines were originally installed as an additional piece of software had to be written. Prior to the new machines there was not an option to pay via credit / debit card and therefore no admin fee applied.