Commentary · 26 October 2026
At Parkhaus Süd by the University of Konstanz, the newsroom's on-site observation is that only one pay station still accepts cash. The cash function has been disabled on another machine. The remaining cash-enabled machine frequently breaks down. When it does, visitors are effectively left with card payment. A choice that depends on the condition of a single machine is no reliable choice at all.
PBW's location page still lists cash alongside several card payment methods for Parkhaus Süd, but it does not say which machines accept cash. The University's parking information still describes two pay stations accepting banknotes, coins and girocard. That older description no longer appears to match what visitors find on site. The operator and university should clearly state which payment options actually work.
Card payments leave a data trail
The European Data Protection Supervisor explains that card payments require data processing by several parties and are traceable by design. Cash payments, by contrast, do not inherently require the processing of personal data. Cash does not make a parking visit anonymous in every respect, but it avoids the additional digital payment trail created by a card transaction.
This is not evidence that PBW monitors visitors live. But when a cash option is effectively removed, every parking customer is pushed into a traceable payment system. That is a step towards extreme monitoring of everyday life, entirely unnecessary at a car park pay station. Card payment should remain available; it should not become the only practical choice.
Cash means choice and resilience
The European Central Bank identifies privacy and inclusion among the key benefits of cash. Paying with cash requires no card reader, internet connection or electricity. That matters for visitors without a suitable card and whenever technology fails. A support line is useful, but it cannot replace a functioning cash payment option.
PBW lists Parkhaus Süd as having 834 spaces. It is unacceptable for cash payment there to depend on a single, frequently unreliable machine.
PBW must keep cash available
The cash function should be restored at the second machine. Both pay stations need regular maintenance; if one fails, visitors need clear information and a real alternative that does not also require a card. If PBW advertises cash at the location, it must reliably provide it on site.
The demand is simple: keep cash at Parkhaus Süd as an equal, reliable payment option and as protection against every ordinary parking visit becoming digitally traceable.