Brisbane City Council’s infrastructure chair David McLachlan said than more than 960 parking meters across Brisbane would no longer accept coins from 22 February.

He said the decision followed a “dramatic reduction” in cash payments and the introduction of better payment technology.

The move will be a first for Australia, with the council also considering introducing a digital receipt system for parking meters later in the year.

McLachlan said motorists would still be given payment options for on-street parking with both Tap ‘n’ Go technology and CellOPark phone app payments available.

“During the height of the global coronavirus pandemic the decision was made, based on health advice, to remove the use of coins in parking meters to reduce the handling of cash,” he said.

“What this proved to us is that so few people use coin payments with motorists embracing technology to pay for parking.

He said cashless payments were good for hygiene and also reduced meter maintenance costs for by hundreds of thousands of thousands of dollars a year.

From tomorrow residents signs at parking meters will advise of the coin removal that will come into effect as of 4am Monday 22 February.

For debit and credit card payments, only Visa and Mastercard will be accepted. Payment is alos available by Tap N Go and pay-by-app with the CellOPark Australia app.