Time runs out for parking pay stations in Spokane

A proposal to replace downtown Spokane parking meters with ticket-spitting pay stations has fallen victim to a cash crisis of sorts.

The machines currently on trial along West Main Avenue and at City Hall will not accept paper money – a deficiency city officials said has doomed the plan for now. The machines only accept coins, debit cards and credit cards.

“The mayor says we need to wait until there is better technology,” said Marlene Feist, spokeswoman for the city.

Last winter, the city installed four of the tall green vending machines to see if they could be used as replacements for traditional parking meters.

They were on loan from a company called Parkeon.

The machines were met with mixed reactions from the public, and some glitches. Parkers had to walk to the machines, purchase a ticket and return to their vehicles to attach the ticket to the inside passenger windows.

Some people reported having credit cards get stuck in the solar-powered machines, Feist said Thursday.

Mayor Jim West proposed the new machines as a way to improve the city’s image, but also potentially to increase parking meter revenues by 10 to 20 percent.

The city currently nets about $1.8 million a year from parking meters.

However, the cost of installing 77 of the machines downtown was estimated at more than $600,000.

Ongoing budget problems were another reason the plan for new parking machines was shelved, Feist said.

“There are budget implications as well,” she said.