However, the new machines come at a price - increased parking charges.
Motorists now pay between $1.50 and $1.80 per hour for on-street parking and this will rise to as much as $4 from July 3.
The 30-minute free parks on George St will also disappear.
The four-zone charging system was introduced in response to last year's council residents' opinion survey, which showed people were very concerned with shoppers finding parks occupied by commuters, and inner-city residents finding their special residents' parking areas taken over by shoppers and commuters.
"All their prayers have been answered. There will be more parks and longer staying periods. Main street machines mean parking spaces are freed up on a regular basis," council development services manager Kevin Thompson said.
If user patterns in other parts of the country were repeated in Dunedin, an estimated 30% of people would pay by text or credit card, the technician in charge of the meter installation project, Keith Robinson said.
Most people were moving to "a cashless society", in which the Metro machines would be more user friendly, he said.
"The machines are pretty widespread. They have them in Wellington, Auckland, Queenstown and Invercargill."
The machines were unlikely to be out of action for long, parking meter technician Keith Randall said.
If a machine had a fault, a web server would notify technicians immediately.
"We used to get phone calls [from motorists] if this happened, but now we can fix the fault before it happens."
The machines' batteries were charged by solar panels, which he said would decrease their carbon footprint.
The new parking machines will have plastic covers until they become operational on July 3.
Beginner's guide to Metro parking machines
How to pay by text message. -
Press the cellphone image.
Select parking time by pressing "more" or "less".
Press "OK".
Text the five-digit code on screen to 7275 (PARK).
Parking fee will be charged to your cellphone account.
They will incur a 50c fee charged by telephone companies.
How to pay by credit card. -
Press the credit card image.
Select parking time by pressing "more" or "less".
Press "OK".
Swipe your credit card.
Payments will be withdrawn overnight from your account.
A 25c fee will be charged by credit card companies.
Parking costs (per hour), -
Centre city - George St/Princes St to Albany St and Jetty St (including the Octagon) - $4.
Core zone - Great King St, Filleul St, Frederick St and Moray Pl - $3.
Inner zone - between Cumberland St, Smith St, Rattray St and Union St - $2.
Outer zone - between Anzac Ave, Smith St, Jetty St and Union St - $1.
- By Cerisse Denhardt
