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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

New way to feed the meters


Dave Mandyke demonstrates a parking station the city will test downtown. Users  can pay for parking with change, credit or debit cards. 
 (Colin Mulvany / The Spokesman-Review)

Downtown Spokane parking is about to get a whole lot easier – or a whole lot more complicated.

The easier part is being able to use a credit card.

The harder part for drivers could be figuring out how to use new parking pay stations at the City Hall parking lot and on the north side of Main Avenue between Lincoln and Howard streets.

For the city, the difficulty could be in paying for them.

The four solar-powered machines needed for the test are being loaned to the city, but it would cost about $500,000 to $650,000 to buy the 77 machines needed to service the downtown core.

Spokane could use some of its $1.8 million in annual parking meter revenue to pay for the switch, said Dave Mandyke, the city’s deputy director of public works.

It was Mayor Jim West’s idea to try out the new technology, Mandyke said

Proponents say the system would be more convenient for parkers, help bring in more money and clear sidewalks of parking meters.

A 90-day test of four parking pay stations will begin Wednesday. Drivers will pay for on-street parking at a central location and then post adhesive receipts on the front curbside window of their cars that indicate the time their parking will expire.

One machine in the center of a block can replace eight to 10 meters on one side of a street, Mandyke said. They would utilize Spokane’s wireless network.

When asked who will determine if the test is successful, Mandyke said, “The mayor,” later adding, “and the citizens.”

Seattle began installing the same Parkeon brand machines last April, said Tracy Krawczyk, Seattle’s parking policy and planning manager. So far, 500 of a planned 1,300 to 1,600 are in place.

It’s difficult to quantify how much more money the city has raised with the machines because Seattle raised its meter rates from $1 an hour to $1.50 an hour at the same time it began installing the machines, Krawczyk said.

But the idea is that people tend to pay more with credit cards than pocket change. With change as the only option, people take more chances of getting a ticket, Krawczyk explained.

“People will put in what they have and cross their fingers,” she said, adding that many now play it safe at the stations by paying for the maximum time allowed.

Spokane officials don’t plan to charge more for parking if it switches over to parking pay stations, Deputy Mayor Jack Lynch said.

Even so, Mandyke said the new machines could bring in about 20 percent more revenue a year.

Mandyke said maintenance costs would be lower under a conversion.

The machines automatically notify operators when the receipt tapes need to be replaced or the change vault needs to be emptied. And with fewer machines, it won’t take as many people to empty them as it does with meters.

But monitoring them could be more labor-intensive.

While meter readers now use carts to enforce parking restrictions from the street, the new system would require them to walk along Spokane’s sidewalks.

The Parkeon pay stations are in use in many cities in the United States and Europe and have performed fairly well, although in Glasgow, Scotland, some began spitting out money instead of taking it.

So far Seattle hasn’t realized any quantifiable operational savings by using the stations, Krawczyk said. The city hasn’t reduced parking staff, she said, adding that it’s “still all hands on deck” with the conversion.

The intention isn’t to reduce staff in Spokane, either, Mandyke said.

In addition to enabling the use of credit and debit cards, a benefit of the pay stations is that they enable the removal of meter heads, said Mary Ann Ulik, the Downtown Spokane Partnership’s parking and operations director. The space can then be used to open up the sidewalk and allow more activities like sidewalk cafes, she said.

There has been some confusion, but most people have taken to the new machines in Seattle, said James Rasmussen, owner of Bud’s Jazz Records in Pioneer Square.

Pioneer Square was one of the first Seattle neighborhoods to get the pay stations.

“We get new people down here all the time, so we have people looking for the meter,” Rasmussen said. “But someone walking by will tell them, ‘You have to pay that thing.’ “