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Late last year The City of Columbus’ Public Service Department tested out several new high-tech parking kiosks around town, but pulled them back out after they failed to meet several expectations.
Tomorrow, a different model of meter will be installed on a patch of Gay Street for another technology trial run. 35 new meters will take the place of old ones and provide customers the option of paying with coins or credit card. Unlike the failed kiosks, these meters are set up in the traditional configuration of one per car, and they do not print paper receipts to place on your dashboard. It’s also worth noting that the meters are power by solar-charged batteries and use a wireless cellular network for securely billing credit cards. The wireless features will also provide the city with real time data tracking, remote settings updates, and automatic notification of full or malfunctioning meters.
If the testing goes well, the new meters could see a wide rollout across the city. Over 4000 meters are in need of replacing over the next few years. The testing phase is scheduled to run through Spring 2009.
Cool. Can someone explain why the kiosks failed? Did motorists just assume the space was not metered since there was not an individual meter right there.
With the credit card system, can you pay for infinite hours of parking or there still time limits?
From the last article, found here (and also linked to in the first post):
And perhaps most crucial for a city already worried about its 2009 budget, income that was projected to spike because of expanded payment options didn’t go up at all. “It kind of turned out to be a wash in the end,” said Mary Carran Webster, assistant public service director.
These new meters, just like the old meters, have the capability to alter time limits based on how the city judges the demand for street-side parking. I highly doubt the city will be setting them to “infinity”.
I actually like this idea a lot better than the kiosks. They seem really cool, and an improvement from whats there now of course. The pay with a credit card option is good for people who dont carry around change. The whole rechargable “parking card” they have now is confusing and little-known.
These will be so very convenient. No more having to remember to load up the car with change!
Glad to see that City Council didn’t give up on this idea entirely when the first experiment failed. I’m with Roland … I don’t generally carry around a lot of change (heck, I don’t generally carry around a lot of cash, period), and having to remember to put more in the car whenever I’m going somewhere that I know has metered parking is a pain.
The only downside is that these wireless meters will probably be able to signal the nearest meter maid the moment the meter runs out.
They were just too awesome. The awesomeness of the kiosks just intimidated ordinary folks so they avoided them.
Is the meter pictured above what is being installed on Gay street? It looks like some piece is retrofitted onto the old meters themselves.
I kept thinking why not signal the driver as the meter is about to expire if they have cellular capabilities. Of course, that would never happen.
I just hope the new meters have a better adhesive for the sticker that states the hours that the meter is enforced! Seems I always find a bank of meters where all the stickers have been yanked. :x
I’ve used the kiosk system they had in Portland. It was nice. If you paid for an hour and used 20 minutes then drove across downtown and parked again, you could still use the remaining 40 minutes on your parking sticker. Great for running errands.
Good point, and written in a font that is large enough to be read from your car, and not have to get out and look at it with your eyes 15 inches from the meter. :D
I kept thinking why not signal the driver as the meter is about to expire if they have cellular capabilities. Of course, that would never happen.
An interesting idea. That could (in theory) be implemented in SMS, all that is needed would be some system to teach the meter your phone number and a little extra software. Of course, since some of the carriers are now charging for SMS from companies (in an attempt to stop some of the spamming) the city perhaps wouldn’t want to pick up the tab (even a few cents/message adds up).
It’s ironic, it hasn’t even been a week since Andrewhall and I had a brief conversation about how much the meters on gay street (and in general) needed an upgrade. We were saved that day by a nice lady who was willing to give us some change.
Yes, and yes. They are using the same change-holding containers and retrofitting them to accept change and cards with the new tops. They are also using the same poles. From what I’ve heard it is helping to cut down on replacement costs.
Oh yeah don’t forget to pm me the next time your headed downtown, I need at least a 30min head start. :twisted:
Seriously,
I kept thinking why not signal the driver as the meter is about to expire if they have cellular capabilities. Of course, that would never happen.
An interesting idea. That could (in theory) be implemented in SMS, all that is needed would be some system to teach the meter your phone number and a little extra software. Of course, since some of the carriers are now charging for SMS from companies (in an attempt to stop some of the spamming) the city perhaps wouldn’t want to pick up the tab (even a few cents/message adds up)…….
.
I like this idea It would be nice if;
a) the meter would be allow you to type in your cell # to give you a call (like the gas pumps in putting in your zipcode) for a reminder.
*I just use the appointment alert on my cellphone now to let me know when my meter is going to run out.
b) If the billing on your car would include meter location/number time and duration. Which you could use this if you would happen to get a ticket.
Edited to ask:
Since the cards will use a cell for transmitting. How secure will this be against Identy theft of your number? (sorry not up to date on cell vs credit card transmitting.)
Since the cards will use a cell for transmitting. How secure will this be against Identy theft of your number? (sorry not up to date on cell vs credit card transmitting.)
There are ways to intercept it. These ways are not trivial or at all easy.
Since the cards will use a cell for transmitting. How secure will this be against Identy theft of your number? (sorry not up to date on cell vs credit card transmitting.)
There are ways to intercept it. These ways are not trivial or at all easy.
Thanks I wasn’t sure.
San Francisco is doing a trial run of this kind of thing:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/12/business/12newpark.html
I do wonder though if this could cause a rat race between drivers who find out about that one available space all at the same time.
This is a great idea. I bet they would even make more money than the standard change-only meters; if I have no change, I either valet or park in a parking garage that takes cards where I would otherwise park and walk. Of course, the card processing fees could eat up any of the additional revenue generated from the convenience of paying with a card.
They have them up and running on Gay St. not to bad I like :)
I really hope they plan out this “test” a lot better than the kiosk disaster. The make or break for me is the hardware (meters) and how easy they are to use. I have to see these machines up close, but I’m fearful based on the image of the meter in this story. It has the look of a payphone that’s sat there for a about 20 years and endured public abuse.
I was looking at one and it seemed simple enough there is even a cancel button if ya think ya did it wrong.