parking meter

A traditional style parking meter

A parking meter is a device used to collect money in exchange for the right to park a vehicle in a particular place for a limited amount of time. Parking meters can be used by municipalities as a tool for enforcing their integrated on-street parking policy, usually related to their traffic and mobility management policies.

History

1940 Parking Meter

The parking meter was invented in 1935 by Carl C. Magee ^[1] in Oklahoma City, OK. The world's first installed parking meter was in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on July 16, 1935.^{[2] [3]} Industrial production started in 1936 and expanded until the mid '80s. The first models were based on a coin acceptor, a dial to engage the mechanism and a visible pointer and flag to indicate expiration of paid period. This configuration lasted for more than 40 years, with only a few changes in the exterior design, like the double-headed version and the incorporation of new materials and production techniques.

In 1960, New York City hired its first crew of "meter maids", all were women. It was not until 1967 that the first man was hired.^[4]

In the mid '80s, a digital version was introduced, replacing the mechanical parts with electronic components: boards, keyboards and displays. This allowed more flexibility to the meter, as an EEPROM chip can be reconfigured more easily than corresponding mechanical components.

By the beginning of the '90s, millions of parking meter units had been sold around the world, but the market was already looking into new solutions, like the collective pay and display machines and new forms of payment that appeared along with electronic money and communication technologies.

Security issues

Parking meters are exposed to the elements and to vandals so protection of the device and its cash contents is a priority. The meters are frequently targeted in areas where parking regulations and enforcement are widely perceived to be unfair and predatory.

Some cities have learned the hard way that these machines must be upgraded regularly, essentially playing an arms race with vandals. In Berkeley, California, the cut-off remains of meter poles were a common sight during the late 1990s, and parking was largely free (and anarchic) throughout the city until the city government installed digital parking meters with heavier poles in 2000 (which were eventually vandalized as well).^[5]

Other cities have turned to having meters accept only cards that serve this purpose (such as smart cards). However, the expensive card-reading device inside has replaced the money as targets of theft.

Legality

Parking meters have been challenged in court many times, but are considered legal if the parking meters used for purposes of parking regulation and not for revenue purposes. In an 1937 case in Oklahoma ^[6], H.E. Duncan contended that the ordinances impose a fee for the free use of the streets, which is a right of all citizens of the state. The Courts ruled that free use of the streets is not an absolute right, but agreed with an unpublished 1936 Florida court decision that said, "If it had been shown that the streets on which parking meters have been installed under this ordinance are not streets where the traffic is sufficiently heavy to require any parking regulations of this sort, or that the city was making inordinate and unjustified profits by means of the parking meters, and was resorting to their use not for regulatory purposes but for revenue only, there might have been a different judgment."

The Supreme Court of North Carolina judged that a city could not pledge on-street parking meter fee proceeds as security for bonds issued to build off-street parking decks. The court said, "Streets of a municipality are provided for public use. A city board has no valid authority to rent, lease or let a parking space on the streets to an individual motorist 'for a fee' or to charge a rate or toll therefor. Much less may it lease or let the whole system of on-street parking meters for operation by a private corporation or individual." ^[7]

Chicago agreed in December 2008 to privatize its 36,000 parking meters for $1.15 billion in revenue. A partnership between Morgan Stanley and LAZ Parking will purchase the 75-year lease on the parking meters and revenue collection.^[8] The Chicago parking meter privatization deal has resulted in meter boycotts, vandalism, and political problems for the Daley administration as hourly rates have been increased. ^[9]

The legality of this privatizing agreement is being challenged. In August 2007, the Independent Voters of Illinois/Independent Precinct Organization (IVI-IPO) filed suit in Cook County Court in an attempt to overturn the city’s privatization of parking meters.^[10]

The suit, docket # 09CH28993, asks the court to declare the contract between the city and Chicago Parking Meters, LLC, illegal and void. The deal between the city and CPM violates state law because: the city did not have authority to lease city streets; the city cannot delegate police functions (parking enforcement) to a private company; the city cannot, through the 75-year lease, deprive future City Councils from the chance to exercise control over city streets; and the city cannot ask the Illinois Secretary of State to suspend driving privileges for violations at privately-held meters.

The very first parking meter ticket resulted in the first court challenge to metered parking enforcement. Rev. C.H. North of Oklahoma's City's Third Pentecostal Holiness Church had his citation dismissed when he claimed he had gone to a grocery store to get change for the meter. ^[11]

Operation

Parking meter in Downtown Houston, Texas, United States

By inserting coins into a currency detector slot or swiping a credit card or smartcard into a slot, and turning a handle (or pressing a key), a timer is set within the meter. Some locations allow payment by mobile phone (to remotely record payments for subsequent checking and enforcement). A dial or display on the meter indicates the time remaining.

In many cities, all parking meters are designed to use only one type of coin. Use of other coins will fail to register, and the meter may cease to function altogether. For example, in Hackensack, New Jersey all parking meters are designed for quarters only.

Some newer parking meters have a sensor that can determine when a parking space has been vacated. Once this happens, any remaining time on the meter resets to zero, forcing the next driver to pay the full price for parking.^{[citation needed]} This feature can also be used to enforce maximum parking times by requiring that the parking space be vacated before allowing any additional time to be purchased. This makes it more difficult for the driver to simply return and purchase additional time, or for a "good samaritan" to pay for more parking on the driver's behalf (sometimes called "feeding the meter").

Alternatives

The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page.

This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2008)

In the American states of Maryland, California, Massachusetts and the whole of the European Union, holders of a Disabled parking permit are exempt from parking fees. Previously, Virginia also allowed persons with disabled plates or placards to park at meters without paying, but due to misuse of the privilege by persons who used permits which belonged to others, the privilege was revoked. In some other states handicapped parking meters exist, which not only must be paid at the same rate as regular meters, but one will also be subject to receiving a violation ticket if a valid handicap license plate or placard is not displayed on the vehicle.

Alternatives to parking meters are pay and display machines (for dashboard display of proof of payment until a certain hour) and machines to accept and electronically record payment by stall number, (known in New York City as the Muni Meter). An experimental program in Houston, Texas was introduced in response to a revised city ordinance for Saturday-enforced metered parking. In the UK it is now possible to park and pay with credit or debit card through a dedicated telephone service. Civil Enforcement Officers that patrol the parking area are automatically informed through their hand held devices.

In the District of Columbia, locations with heavy demand for parking have gone from having a meter at every spot to having a single payment station on that block. One parks one's vehicle, goes to the payment station to purchase a receipt for the amount of time desired, then returns to the vehicle and places it on the passenger side of the dashboard. The payment station accepts coins or credit cards.

Parking Meter with a digital display

Some cities, such as Helsinki, have gone to a device called a Parkulator,^{[citation needed]} in which the user purchases a display device, usually for $5 or $10, then loads it with as much time as they care to purchase. They then activate the device when they park at a location, and place the display device on their dashboard so it is visible from the front windshield. The device counts down the time remaining on the device while it remains activated. When they return, then the clock stops running, and the person does not overpay for time unused.

Other modern advances

Parking meter in Downtown Austin, Texas

More modern parking meters are generically called multispace meters (as opposed to single space meters) and control multiple spaces per block (typically 8-12) or lot (unlimited). Whilst with these meters the parker may have to walk several car lengths to the meter, there are significant benefits in terms of customer service, performance and efficiency. Multispace meters incorporate more customer-friendly features such as on-screen instructions and acceptance of credit cards for payment -- no longer do drivers have to have pockets full of coins or risk a parking ticket. They also have many performance benefits that keep them performing better. While they still may be prone to coin jams and other types of vandalism, most of these meters are wireless and can report problems immediately to maintenance staff, who can then fix the meters so that they are not out of service for very long.

With pay by space meters, the driver parks in a space, goes to the meter and enters their space number and payment. The meter memorizes the time remaining, and enforcement personnel press the bay buttons to check for violations.

Other advances with parking meters include vehicle detection technology, which allows the pay by space meters to know when there is a car parked in a space. This opens the door for benefits for both motorists and parking managers, including providing way-finding (directing drivers to unoccupied spaces via the web or via street signs), enabling remote violation detection, and gathering vital statistics about parking supply and demand.

Another alternative to the traditional parking meter is the use of personal parking meters (in-car meters), small mobile devices that are purchased by the motorist, with a pre-paid parking bank used by the motorist to pay for on-street parking fees. Another technology offers the possibility of reloading money (parking time) to the device via a secure Internet site.

New York City retired its last spring-loaded, single-space, mechanical parking meter at 10:25 a.m. on December 20, 2006. It was located at the southwest corner of West 10th Street and Surf Avenue in Coney Island. “The world changes. Just as the token went, now the manual meter has gone,” said Iris Weinshall, the city’s transportation commissioner, at a small ceremony marking the occasion, the New York Times reported. The new digital meters, which now account for all of the city's 62,000 single-space parking meters, are more accurate and more difficult to break into.

Popular Culture

Bob Dylan in his song "Subterranean Homesick Blues" mentions parking meters, and in a quite emphatic manner.

The Beatles' song "Lovely Rita" is about a meter maid, and is found on the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

In the film Cool Hand Luke the title character is sent to a chain gang for drunkenly cutting the tops off several parking meters.

See also

• Coupon parking
• Decriminalised parking enforcement
• Disc parking
• Pay and display
• Parking Guidance and Information
• Parking attendant
• Valet parking

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Parking meters

• Oklahoma City site of first parking meter. (Historic film)
• U.S. Patent 2,118,318 - Coin controlled parking meter
• The Parking Meter Page
• Articles from the Wausau Daily Herald
• Metergate from the SF Times (archived)
• Brink's 1978 parking meter theft
• Saskatoon, SK - the first Canadian City to offer cell phone parking payment option for its parking meters October 21, 2005
• Parking meter payment by cell phone from Slashdot, June 26, 2006
• Voice Of America Video
• New Parking Meter, calls you when time is up - with Pictures

www.mackaymeters.com