Electronic parking system delayed until midsummer
Coin-operated meters to be replaced
Edmonton drivers will have to feed parking meters for a couple more months because it’s taking longer than expected to put in new electronic devices, a city official says.
The city planned to begin installing smart pay machines in May to replace all 3,300 mechanical coin-operated meters.
But that rollout now isn’t expected to start until midsummer, transportation operations manager Gord Cebryk said Friday.
“That was a projection last year. We hoped the tender would go a little bit faster.”
Edmonton is completing a contract to license back-end software from the Calgary Parking Authority, Cebryk said.
However, a deal with a parking machine supplier likely won’t be struck until the end of June, he said.
Calgary loaned Edmonton 15 machines in 2013 that were installed downtown to test its system.
They’ll be removed once other equipment is found.
Cebryk hopes to have about 400 pay stations in place by fall, so there’s a year to try them before the downtown arena opens in 2016.
People can pay by coin, credit card, cellphone or computer.
A request for proposals will go out soon for companies interested in providing roving licence-plate cameras to catch violators.
A request for a guidance system will be released later in the summer.
This would allow drivers to download an app showing the number and location of vacant parking spaces on streets and in city-run parkades, Cebryk said.
He couldn’t say if Edmonton is considering using hardware from the Cale Group, which provides equipment for Calgary.
The U.S. subsidiary of this Swedish-based-multinational has been embroiled in a bribery scandal over the awarding of a contract to provide parking meters in Portland, Ore.
The founder of Cale Parking Systems USA pleaded guilty in April to wire fraud for sending bribes to a Portland city official, who on May 27 was sentenced to two years in prison for his role.
“At this point we have a tender going on and we’re evaluating all the tenders,” Cebryk said.
A report last year predicted an EPark system would boost Edmonton’s annual parking profits $7 million by 2018, to $22 million.
About $1.5 million from that increase will be used each year to help pay for the arena.
A study released last October determined the amount of street parking space increased about 10 per cent because painted lines outlining each spot were eliminated.
A 2013 survey found an 80-per-cent satisfaction rate with the pay stations, mainly because they’re easy to use, the study says.
The most common complaint was that motorists have to remember their licence plate number.