Technology makes it easier to nail offending drivers
By Associated Press | September 5, 2005
PACIFIC GROVE, Calif. -- In this seaside town, parking meters don't grant those magical few minutes on someone else's dime. Each time a car pulls away from a space, the meter automatically resets to zero.
Little is left to chance in the brave new world of parking technology: Meters are triggered by remote sensors, customers pay for street time by cellphone, and solar-powered vending machines create customized parking plans for the motorist.
Oh, and forget about rubbing the traffic officer's chalk mark off your tires on the streets of cities where short-term parking is free but overstays are punished by fines.
If you're in Monterey, Calif., or Chicago, you're apt to be foiled by parking officials who drive minicarts outfitted with GPS-enabled cameras that scan your license plate and know how long a car has occupied the given space.
Major metropolises like New York and Toronto have been phasing out coin-operated, single-spaced meters for years. But smaller cities including Aspen, Colo., and Savannah, Ga., have started ditching them, too.
Advanced parking technologies can lower a city's operating costs, reduce staffing needs, and increase ticketing accuracy, resulting in fewer challenges in traffic court. Bill Francis, a vice president at the Los Angeles-based Walker Parking Consultants, says technology can also help local officials more smoothly collect on outstanding tickets, which for several cities he's familiar with added up to $4 million in just five years.
Pacific Grove, a coastal resort town where visitors to the nearby Monterey Bay Aquarium and Pebble Beach golf course compete with locals for the few oceanside spaces, went for the gold when it went digital last year.
It installed meters that increase parking fees over time, so that quick errands remain relatively inexpensive but long stays become more costly.
A wire grid under the pavement triggers a sensor whenever a car pulls in. The information can be sent wirelessly via radio signals to traffic enforcers so they'd know when time runs out on any parking spot in town. The meter resets itself as soon as the car pulls away, so the next car has to pay the full fee.