The meter’s running on old-school timers
Delray’s new system could include surge pricing
Delray Beach tonight will discuss plans to add “smart meters” to serve more than 3,000 parking spaces downtown. It’ll end free parking at many locations and may introduce surge pricing, where parking rates rise during periods of high demand to promote turnover.
Over the past decade, cities all across South Florida have been replacing old coin-operated timers with the devices.
Boca Raton, Pompano Beach, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea and Miami Beach all use large “smart” pay stations that accept credit cards and cash, in addition to coins.
Because all transactions are saved electronically by cities, drivers don’t have to worry aboutwalking back to their cars to place a receipt on their dashboards. The cities can tell whether drivers have paid, based on license tag information.
“Transactions are done faster with these meters,” said Jorge Alarcon, Delray Beach’s chief parking facilities administrator. “Before, meterswere taking almost three minutes to do one transaction. Now, we’re getting them in under 30 seconds.”
Hollywood and Surfside, among other cities, keep a variety of smart meters, including ones individually assigned to parking spots that can accept credit-card payments by cellphone.
Alexander Proscurshim, 31, of Boca Raton, said he uses parking apps while in Fort Lauderdale and Miami. But when it comes down to choosing between smart meter pay stations and coin-only meters, he favors the smart pay stations, he said.
“The pay station is easier,” Proscurshim said. “I don’t carry coins unless I have them inmy truck, but outside of that, I haven’t pulled out coins in a very long time.”
Under Delray’s smart meter plan, free
parking could become history in the city.
The city thinks smart meters will give more people a chance to park downtown, because they’ll allow parking rates to be adjusted.
When business is slow downtown, parking rates will be lowered. But when demand surges— for example, around dinnertime on a Friday— rates can be set higher “to push the demand away,” according to the city. These days, a driver is unlikely to easily find an open parking space around dinnertime.
“People showup [downtown] early and stay all day,” said Missie Barletto, Delray’s deputy director of program and project management. “Businesses are doing well, but the experience can be better with turnover and adding additional parking.”
Among other technology the city is considering: a cellphone app that lets patrons pay while away from parking spots, and handheld devices that would let parking enforcers check on payments.
There are 56 smart parking pay stations in Delray; the city would add an estimated100 to124 more. Thatwould give patrons a place to pay for the more than 3,000 parking spaces downtown, Alarcon said.
The City Commission will have to set the parking rates, which will determine howmuch parking revenue the city receives, Alarcon said.
Boca Raton, which has been using smart meter devices since 2011, has 29 meters.
“The pay stations allowa patron to park anywhere in the city and extend their time fromany pay station, eliminating the need to return to the area to add additional time,” said Chrissy Gibson, the city’s spokeswoman. “The meters can tell us how patrons paid for time and if they inadvertently paid for the wrong space.”
So far, the city has received more than $606,000 for 330 metered parking spaces over six months in the 2016-2017 fiscal year.
Since Lauderdale-bythe-Sea began using smart meters in 2011, its number of pay stations has jumped from five pay stations to 25. The town saw about $1.8 million in parking-meter revenue for the 2016-2017 fiscal year. This includes money from pay stations, older meters and a pay-byphone app.
After years of gradually adding them, Miami Beach nowhas 860 smart meter pay stations for its 9,000 parking spaces, said Saul Frances, the city’s parking director.
“Whenwe transitioned, itwas a lot simpler on the customer side,” he said. “Froman enforcement perspective, they don’t have to look at receipts or zones. Nowthey have handheld devices that let them scan license plates to see if people are in the right zones and if they paid or not.”
SanDiego-based IPS Group provides singlespace smart meters to cities including Hollywood and Surfside.
Chad Randall, IPS Group’s chief operating officer, said he thinks there is room for devices to grow even smarter. He said his company has been working with car companies so patrons can pay for parking using their vehicles’ navigational systems.
“They have a variety of ways to be improved,” he said. “But they will be important and relevant for a long time.”
Several cities use parking-oriented cellphone apps in conjunction with smart meters to make it more convenient to park. Pompano Beach uses a parking app called Passport.
“Depending on where you are, you will enter the zone and your credit card information, and it locks in your info so you don’t have to keep adding,” said Bernstein Saimbert, office administrator of Denison Parking, a company managing parking for Pompano Beach. “You can just click, click, click, and you pay for parking.”
Some wish the old coin meters wouldn’t all disappear, as most pay phones have done.
“Why change it?” asked Anthony Pinck, 60, of Delray Beach, while putting quarters into a coin meter near the beach in Delray. “These meters work.”
Tonight’s commission meeting is at 6 p.m. at Delray Beach CityHall, 100 NW First Ave.