Comments on: E-Park Stations to Replace Parking Meters

By: Joel Batterman

Joel Batterman — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 01:03:00 +0000

Yes, the transition to kiosks presents an excellent opportunity for the DDA to create more badly needed bike parking at a fraction of the cost it would take to build new racks. You can see an example of such a conversion here.

I’m going to e-mail Susan Pollay to encourage the DDA to choose this two-birds, one-stone approach, and I encourage others to do so as well: dda@a2dda.org.

By: Joe Morehouse

Joe Morehouse — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 17:31:25 +0000

Mr. Martel, the problem with that feature with this equipment is what to do when a user forgets to credit card out and gets charged for more time than what they used.

By: Bob Martel

Bob Martel — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:52:15 +0000

It would be nice if the meters had a credit card “check in/check out” feature like they use at Metro Airport (i.e., you slide your card in on entry and again upon exiting and the system computes your usage.)

By: anon

anon — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 23:22:27 +0000

I agree with #7. Apparently there is a lack of bike parking (link to Chronicle article). The city is applying for another Bicycle Friendly Community Award from the League of American Bicyclist, so it is in the city's best interest to incorporate a bike locking feature to the parking signage.

By: Fred Zimmerman

Fred Zimmerman — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 20:49:46 +0000

Joe, that’s good news!

By: Eric Boyd

Eric Boyd — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 20:14:08 +0000

It’s too bad the signs are small and/or lack a loop. It will make them not viable as a spot to lock a bike. It would be nice if the replacement “heads” facilitated locking a bike.

By: Joe Morehouse

Joe Morehouse — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 20:11:28 +0000

Mr. Zimmerman, the pay stations being installed by the DDA will only accept coins or credit/debit cards because of the problems all bill accepting machines have.

By: Fred Zimmerman

Fred Zimmerman — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 18:11:08 +0000

I hate the meter stations at the lot on Main Street next to Real Seafood and on North Campus near Bonisteel.

They do not have a very good track record on actually accepting bills.

By: Leah Gunn

Leah Gunn — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 16:29:20 +0000

To respond to Mr. Fike – the city still chalks tires for overtime in parking meter spaces. If someone moves her/his car, there isn’t much anyone can do about it, but all day parkers tend to park in structures or lots. The meters in the downtown generally are 1 or 2 hours, so this doesn’t work well for all day parkers.

By: Dave Askins

Dave Askins — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 14:32:56 +0000

I actually inquired with Joe Morehouse about that. Unlikely they’d be for sale locally. There’s a market for used meters, and they’re dealt with in large “lots” as opposed to single meters. The DDA will get some cash out of them.