Comments on: park-and-pay kiosks replacing old downtown meters

By: Sean

Sean — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 07:30:25 +0000

These machines are ticketless so enforcement officers don’t have to look inside each vehicle for an expired or missing ticket.

Officers can access bay status via the meter interface.

By: Gabriele

Gabriele — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 06:55:16 +0000

They’ve had that set up at a parking lot in Lincoln Heights (North Broadway behind the 99 cents only store) for over a month. Works quite well.
These are used all the time in France—no fancy bells and whistles (reminders, cell phones) but definitely much easier than the individual meters…and in the case of large lots, it makes for more open space for things like farmers markets, etc. on weekends.
I wonder however if it won’t take more time for the meter persons to check the dash of each car, rather than drive by and look at the meter as they drive…

By: colby

colby — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 05:37:07 +0000

Recently used one in Venice.

Manual entry of coins is the same as manual meters, with the exception that a meter number must be entered before paying for time. After entering the meter number it returns meter status - time remaining or expired, which means its available. Electronic transactions have fees, of course.

The UI is pretty good, or so it seems to an old guy like me that’s been programming for 41 years this month.

By: Stephen Friday

Stephen Friday — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 20:17:25 +0000

Paul:

It’s $0.20 per transaction. To some, two dimes is worth the reminder to save them a $45 parking ticket.

By: Sven

Sven — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 19:18:28 +0000

Seattle has them as well - imo they are much better than the stand alone quarter gets jammed then it fails and u get a ticket anyway meters. The good thing about them is it will only let you pay during the posted hours. I’ve seen people who didn’t know any better put pockets full of change into meters on Sunday or after 6… these you can’t. Another good thing, as long as you’re in the same type of zone, you can re-use your sticker at another parking spot without having to re-pay - granted you still have time leftover.

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 19:08:28 +0000

I was thrilled at first, but then I followed the link to sign up for paying by cellphone, and it noted that a service fee would be charged in addition to what you’re paying the meter to park. I don’t know what the fee is, but I imagine it’s going to be a ripoff.

Also, the payments are made in $1 increments, so even if you only need an extra 10 minutes, you’ll still be paying more.

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:39:49 +0000

These bad boys are being installed all over my neighborhood the last few days.

I think it’s a great idea for a few reasons:

- No more carrying hand-fulls of quarters
- As great as free parking is at failed meters, these units should be more reliable and cut down on the bad ticket I was written a couple months ago when the meter was failed, then reset

I love the use of technology and can only hope the roll out of these units is widespread in the downtown core ASAP.

By: Bert Green

Bert Green — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 06:36:21 +0000

On 5th Street, just east of Hill, there are new, single meters which also take credit cards. Not a kiosk, but actual single-space meters. I guess they are trying several things at once.

By: spinsLPs

spinsLPs — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 04:54:17 +0000

Portland, OR has them too. And yes, they are way better than the old meters.

By: meekorouse

meekorouse — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 04:29:25 +0000

Berkeley, CA has had these for quite some time and are a much better way to go IMHO.