New age parking meters downtown
Hmmmm...I find it interesting that downtownguy brought this up in his blog awhile back (these type of meteres were being installed in Tulsa), and now Dave Lopez is stating that they're being installed here. Hmmmm.....does Dave Lopez happen to be on this site? lol! If so, we welcome you!
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"City takes parking meters into electronics age
by Heidi R. Centrella
The Journal Record
1/13/2005
Journal Record Photo
The country's first parking meter was invented and installed in Oklahoma City. Soon the city will install a new and improved variety along downtown streets, lending drivers multiple payment options - from debit cards to cell phones.
The parking meter pilot program is scheduled to be in place later this year.
Central Oklahoma Transportation and Parking Authority officials will meet with vendor Reino Parking Systems next week to discuss costs and the various options for four new meters that will be installed in the Central Business District.
"Parking and meter enforcement has been an issue," said David Lopez, Downtown OKC executive director. "We want to see what we can do to address that to make it as customer-friendly as possible."
Each meter will provide service for 10 spaces. Metro Transit Marketing Manager Amy Ford said COTPA officials are looking at cities such as Boston and Detroit as they develop a marketing plan to educate the public on how to use the meters.
"With technology these days, the meters can do just about anything you want them to," Ford said.
Features include accepting credit cards, debit cards, charging a cell phone account and notifying a person via PDA that their time is about to expire. But Ford said until costs are calculated, downtown's new gadgets won't necessarily include all available options.
One deciding factor behind the upgrade, Ford said, was the reality that a lot of people simply don't carry cash anymore - rather they pay with debit cards and the like.
Lopez said the new meters will provide a way to not only modernize the existing system, but also aid in enforcement.
"As we have more retail, you want that turnover on the street-level parking, you don't want somebody there all day," Lopez said.
COTPA's Ford said the time limit on the meters, as it has been set up by the city, will not change. But it will be tracked and monitored "a little bit differently," she said.
"Someone could, potentially, monitor it remotely," Ford said. "If we had the manpower and capability and chose that feature, where it's all electronic and showed up on a computer that a meter has expired.
"So we're going to work hard with enforcement, but the most important thing is education," Ford said. "This is going to be a new way for people to park in downtown Oklahoma City. We'll be educating building owners, educating employees, educating everyone to tell people who frequently visit downtown about this new method."
Originally Posted by Patrick
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