Payment kiosks on track for delivery
Stands expected to arrive by end of month
The city is still on track to take delivery of payment kiosks for several of its municipal parking lots by the end of this month, Kingston’s director of communications and community engagement said.
“The parking kiosks should be delivered near the end of this month and installed in August, along with updated signage,” Megan Weiss-Rowe said in an email Friday. “We are finalizing the permit application process and will roll that out prior to the installa-
tion of the kiosks.”
Once the kiosks arrive, they are expected to be installed in six of the city’s municipal lots: three in the Uptown business district; on Cornell and Prince streets in Midtown; and on Dock Street in the Rondout area, Mayor Steve Noble has said. Along with the kiosks that will start
charging users for parking in those areas, the city will also begin selling $10 permits to anyone who feels they are a frequent user of the lots, which currently are free for all users.
The permits, allowing holders to avoid paying hourly rates at the new kiosks, would be valid through the end of the year.
Three city lots will not be getting kiosks and will remain free to use: the ones next to Sea Deli
and Arace Electronics on Broadway in Midtown, and the one at the Trolley Museum of New York in the Rondout district.
The Common Council voted in early March to have the city borrow $125,000 to buy the kiosks.
The kiosks will follow on the recent increase in cost for on-street metered parking from 50-cents an hour to $1, as well as the launch of the new Whoosh! mobile app allowing users to pay using their smartphones.
The app charges a 35-cent convenience fee per transaction, which is not paid to the city.
The city’s 2017 budget anticipated $175,000 in revenue from parking fees, but that was based on the kiosks being purchased and installed by April 1 and on-street meter rates being increased at the same time. Of the revenue, $100,000 was earmarked just for maintenance of the city’s municipal lots.