A regular reader of Urban Review sent me a link to an article in Monday’s Boston Globe over their new Pay-n-Display parking meters:
Boston’s new high-tech parking meters along a four-block stretch of Newbury Street are keeping pace with their high-rent surroundings: They are generating at least 34 percent more money per space than their predecessors.
The article raises many of the issues raised here, people don’t like not being able to piggyback on the previous persons time and having to buy more time than you need if using a credit card.
Boston’s new meters are from one of the two companies that are providing meters in St. Louis, Parkeon. Their units, however, are different from those being tested here. The main difference is theirs accept dollar bills. Here is what they have found since installing the new machines mid-October:
The preferred method of payment has been dollar bills (45 percent), followed by coins (40 percent), and plastic (15 percent).
There the rates are double what they are on Grand ($2hr two hours in Boston vs $1 for two hours on Grand). Those using a dollar bill in Boston automatically get 30 minutes on the meter — no change if you want only 15 minutes. Using a credit card in Boston gets you two hours, the same as here — this is to offset fees charged by credit card companies.
I’m concerned the lack of dollar bill acceptors in the test machines in St. Louis will prove them to be less advantageous over the existing meters. This is especially true given the costs of the new devices, which is another difference.
The Suburban Journal reported on November 2nd:
The Parkeon meter costs about $12,000 and the Duncan meter about $5,000. By contrast, 10 regular meters cost about $5,000.
But the Boston Globe article shows them getting better pricing:
Under a contract with the manufacturer, Parkeon of Moorestown, N.J., Boston has the option of buying 1,000 meters over the next three years, which could effectively replace all of the city’s existing 6,600 single-space meters. The first 25 meters cost $7,219 apiece; after that the price rises to $10,000 apiece, for a total of nearly $10 million.
So we are getting quoted $12,000 each for units that don’t accept bills but they can pay $8,000-$10,000 for ones that do? The only explanation I can come up with is the $12,000 price is a one-off price and that under a contract similar to Boston’s we’d get a similar deal. Boston is showing an increase of over $3 per space per day compared to last year. If multiplied out by their total number of spaces the new meters could pay for themselves in just over a year from increases in revenue alone. Again, their biggest revenue (45%) are coming from bills followed by coins and lastly by credit/debit cards.
Back to South Grand were testing is ongoing. For grins I tried to put in money into the Pay-n-display machine after the required parking one evening and it was smart enough to refuse the money and indicate on the screen that parking was free at that time. This is nice for visitors that are never sure how late to feed the meters. What I have not yet tested is if you park at say 7:45am for an hour long breakfast or meeting — will the machines let you deposit money before the official time begins at 8am or must you run back out at 8am and pay?
Before the St. Louis Treasurer, who oversees parking in St. Louis, draws any conclusions and signs any contracts I’d like to know more about which cities have these systems, how extensive are they (CBD, commercial district or city-wide), and how many of them use bill acceptors.