Yesterday, a press release from Tishaura Jones, Treasurer of the City of St. Louis, announced that Xerox and Parkmobile have been selected to upgrade parking meter technology in the City.
According to the press release: "Xerox will be responsible for upgrading parking meters and software technology, while Parkmobile will be responsible for launching a smartphone app to pay for parking. During the recent six month parking technology field test, Xerox hosted the pilot site at Euclid and Laclede in the Central West End. That site featured single space meters, multi-space meters (see below), and smartphone payments." Read more here…
The meter pictured above is the one that was chosen from among those tested.
I'm somewhat relieved that the multi-space meters located on Euclid between West Pine and Laclede were not chosen, as I have seen people standing there puzzling over how they work. I got stuck in the Spanish language version once and decided it was better to pay the ticket than waste additional time trying to find my back to my native language.
Last November, I attended a neighborhood Town Hall Meeting organized by Tishaura Jones to discuss parking issues. It was sparsely attended, so there were opportunities to ask many questions.
Here's what I learned: The City Treasurer is head of St. Louis City's banking systems and parking services. The office began outsourcing parking meter maintenance and services, which includes enforcement, i.e., meter maids, in 2004. Since parking meter maintenance is outsourced, the City Treasurer's office receives only a portion of the funds collected. At that meeting I also learned that the office collects approximately 14.6 million dollars a year from parking services. What I understood is that a third of the revenue comes from violations, some from parking meters, and the rest from municipal garages. In the CWE, the Argyle Garage at Euclid and Lindell contributes 5% of the total income. I don't recall the figures for 9 North Garage on Euclid, though I understood it wasn't performing as well as had been projected, though that could have changed by now. I asked when municipal parking garages were going to accept credit cards instead of cash only payments, and was told it was under discussion, but not as easy as it sounds to implement. I'm not certain why.
Most of the parking meters in the neighborhood look like the old one above. What many of us have noticed is that visitors study them front and back trying to figure out what the hours of operation are. Years ago, Coffee Cartel's proprietor Dennis Gorg had stickers made (see example above) that clearly state the hours. Recently, the Community Improvement District had more stickers printed and volunteers have been putting them on both sides of meters (mostly at the north end) to help visitors out.
A few final notes on parking: Bring up the subject in the neighborhood and you'll get many opinions, but most agree that the meter maids seem to have a 6th sense when a meter is about to expire. Parking regulations aren't uniform in all areas of St. Louis and St. Louis County either, so often people seem surprised that you have to feed the meter on Saturday, for instance, and after 6:00 p.m. Holidays are free, but which ones? I can tell you from experience that Columbus Day isn't on the list.
I heard someone say recently that parking is extremely inexpensive here compared to other cities, which is so true. Try parking in San Francisco, below, for instance. At least you can use a credit card.
A few years ago I photographed a Parking Parklet in San Francisco, above, where PARK(ing) DAY was started by Bay Area architects in 2005. The event has spread across the country and reached our fair city last year.
Tishaura Jones' office is now accepting applications for PARK(ing) DAY, scheduled for September 19. Participants are invited to turn metered spaces into temporary public spaces. In a recent press release, the Treasurer encourages people to use parking spaces for performances, art galleries, even bowling. They'll waive the $25 application fee and meter rental fee for those who want to join in.
Here is information and the application if you're interested in learning more.