Mater Dei visitors will be relieved to hear that the notoriously unreliable parking payment machines have been replaced by more robust ones and the out-of-service time has been cut by 95 per cent.

KIS Service JV consortium began running the hospital car park last August, after a 10-year deal signed back in January 2008 ended.

Health Minister Chris Fearne said in reply to a Parliamentary Question by MP Godfrey Farrugia that the new operator has added more machines at various strategic locations to cut down the queue of people waiting to pay their parking tickets at the ground floor level.

A monitor has also been installed at the entrance to the car-park which shows how many spaces are available, meaning people do not need to drive around and around in the hope of finding a vacant spot.

Another innovation – part of the mandatory investment by the new operator – is the introduction of a tidal system at the entrance, allowing two of the three lanes to be allocated to those going into the car park during the busiest hours of the morning, and then reversed in the afternoons.

However, the minister gave no information on plans to increase public parking. The ministry had said last September that discussions were at an advanced stage with the Planning Authority for the development of a new underground 500-slot car park to complement the current 1,900 ones.

Mater Dei receives roughly half a million outpatient visits every year – which works out to approximately 2,000 every working day. In addition, the car park is used by inpatients’ visitors.

KIS Service JV won the concession after beating four other bidders in a tender application process, and has signed a five-year deal with an option to extend the contract by two further years.

After winning the concession, it had immediately revised the rates and cut fees from 10c per parking spot (from 80c to 70c) for visitors who stay up to one hour, to 60c (from €4.10 to €3.50) for visits of four hours or more. Parking will remain free for visits of 30 minutes or less.