High Tech Parking Meters Given Another Shot
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.
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Related Tags: downtown • gay street • parking • parking meters • technology
December 16th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
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?
December 17th, 2008 at 12:01 am
From the last article, found here (and also linked to in the first post):
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”.
December 17th, 2008 at 12:02 am
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.
December 17th, 2008 at 12:42 am
These will be so very convenient. No more having to remember to load up the car with change!
December 17th, 2008 at 8:47 am
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.
December 17th, 2008 at 10:02 am
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.
December 17th, 2008 at 10:04 am
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.
December 17th, 2008 at 10:10 am
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
December 17th, 2008 at 10:12 am
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.
December 17th, 2008 at 10:22 am
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
December 17th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
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.
December 17th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
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.
December 17th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
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 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.)
December 17th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
There are ways to intercept it. These ways are not trivial or at all easy.
December 17th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Thanks I wasn’t sure.
December 17th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
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.
December 17th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
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.
December 17th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
They have them up and running on Gay St. not to bad I like :)
December 17th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
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.
December 17th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
I was looking at one and it seemed simple enough there is even a cancel button if ya think ya did it wrong.
December 17th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
Wait, are you wanting them to be easy to use or wanting them to look new and sexy?
I haven’t used a payphone in forever, but even the old beat up crappy ones are “easy to use”.
December 17th, 2008 at 10:47 pm
Umm, I don’t see it as an either or situation. That being said, the aesthetics might play into the usability of the meter. Yes, I want them to be easy to use. Especially since the lack of ease of use killed the kiosk experiment.
In terms of sexy parking meters. Did you have something like this in mind?
Here we have a meter engaged in an act of seduction sportin’ a fashionable coat of paint, trying it’s very best to solicit the change right out of good citizens pockets. I guess NO I have no interest in “sexy meters”, but I suppose a meter could get it’s sexy on.
I don’t care how “sexy” they look, but if they are in the process of replacing meters why not go all the way and bring the whole thing up to date. Especially if the existing ones (the meters on Gay in particular) look beat to hell. At the very least let’s hope for a fresh coat of paint.
December 17th, 2008 at 11:00 pm
Ha! That is one sexy meter.
I agree that it doesn’t have to be an either/or. If we are going to be replacing 4000 meters over the next few years though, I’m guessing the city is weighing the cost of implementation and ROI most heavily in deciding which ones to go with.
Sleek modern meters would definitely be an aesthetic streetscaping improvement, but if the comments in this thread are any indicator, most people sound they they value function over form when it comes to their parking infrastructure.
The coat of paint is a good idea that could be done cheaply. Perhaps they could be color coded based on time/cost? That way it would be easy to tell that the ones with the red poles get you 5 minutes per quarter and the ones with the green poles get you 20 minutes per quarter. Oh, and the ones with the blue poles get your a $500 parking ticket if you’re not handicapped. ;)
December 17th, 2008 at 11:07 pm
I spotted that meter dressed up for HighBall. :)
Great idea… Although, sheez with those arches and their schizophrenic color story I can see the SN getting rainbow poles.
December 17th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
I’ve only used the system once, but I thought it was great. I didn’t have any change, so I swiped my credit card. You can only add time by pushing a 15 minute increment button, but it knew that the meters became free in 20 minutes, so that’s all it let me pay for. I thought that was pretty cool.
It also tends to keep the sidewalk clutter to a minimum by only having one or two meters per block.