There's a new ethos in town when it comes to parking and a voucher is needed to ensure one does not run afoul of its dictates.

A new voucher parking system -- that Corporation of Hamilton officials expect to raise $799,000 a year -- takes effect today.

The days of parking for one hour in the middle of Hamilton and then moving that car around to avoid the vigilant traffic wardens, are still with us, however, except that now the vehicle will require a fresh voucher for each new hour.

From 8 a.m. today, motorists will have to use parking vouchers to park on City streets. The vouchers, worth 50 cents, will be sold throughout the Island in books of 10 for $5.

"We've had a lot of inquires about how the system works,'' Corporation of Hamilton secretary Mr. Roger Sherratt said.

"In the vast majority of cases callers have been satisfied once they understand what's involved.'' Mr. Sherratt said the response to the television advertising campaign has been good because it explained how to fill out the voucher correctly.

"The vouchers can be purchased from nearly 70 different retail outlets including gas stations, post offices, supermarkets and pharmacies.

Mr. Sherratt said that of those 70 outlets, more than 30 were in Hamilton.

Consequently, anyone parking in Hamilton who may have inadvertently forgotten to purchase a set of vouchers, could quickly remedy that in a matter of minutes.

"We have been holding meetings with the traffic wardens and discussed how the voucher system will be implemented,'' he added.

"The traffic wardens have been authorised to issue warning tickets. We anticipate that some members of the public are going to take a while to get used to filling them in properly. When a motorist gets a warning ticket there is no fine for that but it will advise the motorist where he or she has made a mistake on their ticket. It will explain where and how.

"The warden will also make a note of the car number, time, date and place as well as the mistake so that the motorist can be monitored.'' Mr. Sherratt said he anticipated that it was going to take a few weeks for everyone to get used to the new system. But a clear distinction would be drawn between a minor mistake and an intentional effort to skirt the law.

"Right from the start we expect people to use these vouchers on their cars.

"The Corporation is looking to have an additional traffic warden, particularly before we open the Bull's Head parking lot in October. We have seven at the moment but the Corporation believes we could use eight.'' Parking vouchers will be required in the City centre from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday.

Streets where parking vouchers will be used are -- from east to west -- Bermudiana Road, Par-La-Ville Road as far north as Church Street, Wesley Street, Queen Street, and Court Street. From north to south, Victoria Street, Church Street, Reid Street, Front Street and Albouy's Point. And Parliament Street, from Front Street to Victoria Street.

Fifteen minutes of free parking will be allowed in front of the Post Office on Church Street.

The back of each voucher book will feature a calender dated from July 1995 to July 1996 and a clear explanation on how to fill out a voucher. Motorists will be expected to scratch the appropriate boxes on the voucher and leave the voucher in the windscreen. Each voucher will be good for one hour.

Drivers will be allowed to stop to pick up or drop off passengers but vehicles will not be allowed to be left unattended without a displayed parking voucher.