A video explaining the multi-space pay technology that will replace single-head meters, like the one below, in the English Plaza lot. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
It’s “time expired” for racing to beat a $38 parking ticket in downtown Red Bank, officials said Wednesday night.
Say hello to “multi-space, revenue controlled” parking technology, complete with cellphone interactivity.
Fulfilling a pledge made by Mayor Pasquale Menna two years back, the borough council awarded a contract for a yet-to-be-determined number of pay stations that will, among other wonders, send visitors texts when they’re in danger of being ticketed and allow them to extend their stays from the comfort of a restaurant.
Oh, and for the town? A sweet spike in parking revenue, with an accompanying drop in enforcement and maintenance costs, says an executive at vendor Integrated Technical Systems of Wallingford, Connecticut.
After reviewing six bids, the council opted for Luke II machines, made by Digital Payment Technologies, which will cost the town about $12,000 each.
Borough officials said the expense would be borne by the town’s parking fund, holding more than $500,000, money collected over the years from new businesses that were required to dig deep when they couldn’t provide sufficient parking – a requirement that’s now in moratorium.
The pay kiosks will be rolled out as early as next spring in the parking lots at English Plaza, Maple Cove, Marine Park and White Street, said council president Art Murphy. “We’ll get a consensus” on how well they work before additional machines are purchased for metered streets and lots, he said.
The technology is the same used by the City of Asbury Park, which has about 100 of the kiosks, Joe Yorlano, director of sales at ITS, tells redbankgreen. Similar machines are used at the Little Silver train station, and a pilot program is underway in Long Branch, he said.
Red Bank, he said, opted for a pay-by-parking-space system. Each space will be numbered, and a visitor has to enter that number at the time of payment, which can be made with cash, credit card, smart card, or an online account with a third-party vendor.
There’s no need to return to your car to place a receipt on the dashboard, Yorlano said, because the record of the transaction is available wirelessly to the town’s parking enforcement arm.
The machine’s manufacturer boasted recently that parking revenue in Asbury Park soared 60 percent on the installation of the machines,and Yorlano says gains of 30 percent and more are common. One big component of that, he said, is the elimination of “piggybacking,” which now occurs when a paid spot is vacated and taken by another motorist.
“With the multispace system, everybody who parks, pays,” he said.
The system also allows towns to dramatically cut costs, he said. Enforcers no longer have to check individual meters. Instead, they have a digital readout showing which spaces are no longer paid for, and can ticket accordingly.
“There’s also a lot fewer machines,” he said. “In a 70-space lot, you might need just three or four installations,” reducing maintenance expenses.
And while the cost per unit is high compared to single-heads, “municipalities are turning to this concept because the payback analysis is usually in the range of nine months,” Yorlano said. Towns can even sell ads to run on the LCD displays, he said.
Red Bank RiverCenter executive director Nancy Adams said the downtown promotion agency’s member businesses are “thrilled that there are going to be more choices for shoppers, so they don’t have to run out of lunch or a meeting” to feed an expiring meter, and can instead extend their stays via cellphone text.
“It jump starts us into a new century,” said Menna, who recently signaled his intention to have a parking deck built at the White Street lot when he said he would appoint up to three experts in the field as advisors on January 1.
I’m confused. How does this raise more revenue??? If the price of parking doesn’t change then the revenue should be the same regardless of a meter or a pay station???
We did have pay stations once. Customers had NO IDEA that they had to pay for parking because the stations were placed at very inconvenient locations around the White St parking lot. People don’t walk in-and-out of that lot from the drive-in entrances so they never saw the pay stations and there was not a sign in front of every parking spot for them. Let’s hope the town does it better this time.
I have one of those credit-card like Parking Cards that I pre-charge with $25.00 – will this Neiman-Marcus system accept those cards?
Interesting term – Piggybacking – How will this new-fangled system know someone who paid for an hour has pulled out, leaving 30 minutes remaining?
And it all relies on wireless communication? We’re doomed.
Kevin, it won’t. I would imagine that is one way these things will bring in more revenue.
Either way, I’ve been so happy with these machines in Asbury Park this year, I think it’s a great idea. No more quarters!
Thanks Lauren. Speaking of Asbury Park, I’m so confused as to when/where I can get away without paying in the boardwalk area – couple of blocks back? Off hours? Desolate times of the year? I like to park right at the north end of the boardwalk and ride my bike south and every space has numbers – yes, I know I should just pay.
I guess what I am having trouble understanding is that, if one can update/pay one’s parking meter via text from a smartphone and if all parking spaces have a unique number, then why do we need a series of new flashy $12,000 meters? More to the point, if this can all be done with a smartphone app, then just incorporate this functionality into River Center’s new app. No new expensive meters and no pay station confusion, plus RC collects the fees and marketing data directly. Makes sense to me anyway….
Kevin, in AP I believe any spot with a number requires payment and metering is in effect from 9am til midnight. If it helps, parking on Ocean Ave is $2 an hour, while all other spots are only $1 an hour. Parking a block in will save a bunch of cash.
Kevin: The system will know you’ve pulled out because you’ll have to type your license plate in when you purchase parking. Want that cell phone alert? You’ll have to type that in, too.
These machines will change paying for parking from dropping in coins to interacting with a computer.
Make sure you note the number of your parking space before you approach the computer. Otherwise you’ll have to cancel your transaction, walk back to your space to get the number and start over.
Enforcers will not just be looking for spaces that should be empty and ticketing cars in them. To avoid piggybacking, they’ll have to look at the license plate number of every car and compare it with the license plate that was entered the last time someone paid for each space.
A final note: the parking meter company will have a database linking credit card numbers to cell phone numbers. That is valuable information for marketers which the parking meter company will be free to sell. Imagine you pay for parking in the White Street lot and you get text messages telling you what’s playing at the Clearview and what soups are available at That Hot Dog Place.
All to avoid having to carry around a few quarters or buy a smartcard.
The machines in AP do not ask for your license plate number, ever. Perhaps Red Bank is planning on using different machines than AP, but if that’s true, the article is pretty misleading.
To prevent piggybacking you either need to collect license plate numbers or print a ticket to display on the dashboard. Looks like RB is going for the collection of license plate numbers.
Which of course will be in the parking meter company’s database. So they’ll be able to link your license plate to your credit card and cell phone.
Really? The master plan is to steal your cell/license plate to sell you hot dogs!? Come on people this is ridiculous. The asbury system is easy to use, not your space number put in money…DONE. Unless you have proof of this information you should not say such things.
The funny & misleading thing about this whole pay station silliness is this. You can still get a ticket if you don’t pay for enough time in the meter.
So if you pay for a 1/2 hour & don’t come back. You will still get a ticket.
The smart phone option is a good idea. However, it assumes (again) that the whole entire world uses a smart phone. I’m sure there are many people that still have (gasp) an old fashioned flip phone.
Am I missing something Robert? Where in the article does it say drivers enter their license plate number? I could be losing it, but I read the story like 4 times after I saw your comment and don’t see that reference.
Brian: The article says piggybacking will be prevented. With that model of pay station, there are 2 ways to set it up to prevent piggybacking. 1) Print receipts to be put on the dashboard. 2) Enter your license plate. From the article: “There’s no need to return to your car to place a receipt on the dashboard.” That leaves only the license plate option. Watch the video, and you’ll see a user entering license plate and cell phone number.
Amanda: Collecting cell phone numbers is not the goal of the system. It’s just a bonus for the pay station manufacturer which gets to harvest all that info.
Not only marketers will want that info. Son of Sam was caught because he got a parking ticket near one of his crimes. With pay stations like these, law enforcement will know everyone who was parked in a particular spot at a particular time.
Jennifer: According to the video you don’t need a smartphone. You just need to receive a text and reply.
I am not confused at all. I now have more reasons NOT to shop in Red Bank if at all possible. I am sorry, but I just can’t take everyones hand in my wallet.
Allan:
It increases Revs because now if I pay for an hour & leave early one or more cars can take my spot for free until the time on the meter runs out.
Under the new system you’ll have no way of knowing if the car that just left has any time left that you can use for free other than that driver telling you.
And they may be lying or mistaken about how much time is left.
They won’t need anyone’s license number because this system of entering the space number is not designed to eliminate piggybacking.
It’s just going to make it very difficult for one car to piggyback & pretty near impossible for 2 or more to piggyback.
If someone guesses right there’s still time left on a given spot they won’t be ticketed.
The uncertainty produced by this lack of meter transparency will bring in more Revs.
I thought one of the key points of having meters downtown was to ensure parking space TURNOVER. If you are sent a text when your time is up and you are permitted the ability to pay for additional time, isn’t that the equivalent of the existing system’s feeding the meter? And isn’t feeding the meter illegal?
If this system is installed, what’s to stop downtown’s retail employees from squatting in the same parking space all day long?
If this is the case, it is counterproductive for business. Therefore, merchants should oppose it with a vengeance, because where will potential customers park?
In all the articles that I have read, all I hear is,more choices for shoppers & diners and businesses will love this. What about the boaters that really are the only users of Maple Cove parking lot? Smart phones, credit cards? Yea, I always take a handful of credit cards when I go out for a paddle and I don’t have a smart phone.I don’t believe that Maple Cove Parking Lot should have a pay station.
Maple Cove, located at the foot of Maple Ave,which is a hike from the shops of Downtown RB and which offers the only public access to the Navesink River, was created 4 years ago by people that fought to save this site for public use. It was created using donated money and volunteer labor & it has been maintained by volunteers because RB has refused to maintain it. It’s ironic to say on one hand, RB doesn’t have the funds to maintain the site and then charging a fee to park there. This boarders on mindless arrogance & lacks wisedom.
At the council meeting, I brought a letter that had been sent to Mr. Sickels from the DEP, Green Acres. It states that the Borough is responsible for making sure only park users are using the parking area. Use of the parking area for reasons other than park use would constitute a diversion of use. As of now this lot is totally park land and must go by the law.
Maple Cove is unfunded park land. According to NJ DEP Green Acres Program rules, ” A local government unit that operates or developes a recreational and conservation facility on unfunded parkland without GA funding may adopt fees and schedule the use of that facility at its discretion.” To me this speaks volums as to the intent of the town. RB does have a choice here. Count Basie Park is also a recreational Park, but ya don’t see RB metering there. That would upset RBC.
If RB can afford to give 2 million dollar buildings away (51 Monmouth St.) & throw away $7,000.00 a month of income from that building that the YMCA is now getting from renting to RBC, agree to let RBC students use the Gold St parking lot & permit park in portions of the White St lot, I think that RB should leave the Maple Cove lot out of the mix and let the citizens of RB and in the Greater RB Area, have their 10 spaces for their recreational water activities without fees.
Laura Schneider:
The system will be able to prevent meter hogging better than ever by limiting how much time a parket can buy and limiting the max time they can extend via smartphone.
It won’t be able to totally eliminate space hogging & piggybacking but it doesn’t need to work perfectly to be of value.
And I doubt they’re expecting everyone to see value in the smartphone capability. I’m sure lots of people will purposely overstay just so they can renew by smartphone to feel cool.
Cindy: The town tried to do some maintenance at Maple Cove, but someone tore up the protective netting they had placed over newly planted grass. Users who don’t want to carry credit cards can put a roll of quarters in their car and drop a few in the pay station. But I always have my credit cards when I drive. I have to carry my license so instead of pulling it out of my wallet, I just bring the whole wallet.
My first thought was that they should install meters at Count Basie. But then I realized that parking lot is busy evenings and weekends when the town does not charge for parking.
Kevin: Maybe you’re right and when the manufacturer talks about “the elimination of piggybacking,” he really means discouraging piggybacking. Maybe the town will choose not to force us to give license plate info.
No one has mentioned the costs associated with repainting each parking spot with its own individual number. & you can’t get public works to hand paint the #s. I’m sure that will cost the town a pretty penny.
Jennifer:
The line painting is an additional minor cost, but it won’t cost RB anything.
It will come from the $500k Parking Fund they’ve been accumulating for years paid by businesses needing a parking variance.
There are probably other minor costs which were left out too, all of which will be easily picked up by that fund.
Robert, per the video RB had to pick 1 of 3 different options 1.) display ticket 2.) license plate no or 3.) Space No.
It seems RB has wisely opted for the space no. option.
I think there would be a lot of resistance to having to enter a plate no.
It’s about time they finally tap into the fund for this investment which should bring in a lot more Revs which can be collected more cheaply.
John Ford,
I think each of the pay stations also acts as an individual server.
Your phone is probably getting the text from the pay station where you used your to phone to pay.
And it’s probably each individual pay station which communicates wirelessly with parking enforcement.
This parking fund will be depleted in no time fast with these meters and the “professionals” they plan to hire. Also, with the moratorium on additional fees, once it is gone, it is gone. If I were a business owner, I would make sure it is spent wisely.
If the town is considering plans by private developers to build a garage on White St., why are they considering changing the existing pay station now. All that money spend could be wasted since the private developer would set up their own pay system and assume the revenue from that lot, right?
Last point, Red Bank officials have turned parking into a cash cow maybe even to the detriment of businesses. While tax payers appreciate the help they get from revunue from parking, they are feeling it on the other end from failing businesses in the form of appeals. If you are friendly to shoppers, revenues will rise resulting in higher paid taxes by businesses.
Free parking is good too.
Kim:
You’ve done a great job fighting against unnecessary spending.
But zero spending isn’t going to be bring us back to a healthier footing.
The Parking Fund can only be spent on Parking related expenses.
What better way to spend it than on something that is supposed to increase Parking Revs while lowering parking expenses on the spaces we have now?
And what better time to commit to spend a few hundred thousand dollars to maximize Parking Revs on the spaces we have now than BEFORE we commit to spending tens of millions on a parking garage?
What better evidence will we have that a garage will be a bust than if the new paystations increased Revs and lower cost targets aren’t met?
According to business owners Red Bank has a parking space problem. How does switching out the meters help during a Count Basie or Two River event when White street is full?
Those parking funds (present and future) could go toward helping the businesses fund a parking garage with a private investor so taxpayers don’t have to foot any part of the bill to build the garage. The town can still collect revenue on renting the property. The business owners would get what they have been asking for for years – a garage.
Merry Christmas Kevin
Kim:
Merry Christmas to you and yours, Kim.
What’s more “Christmasy” than talking about RB parking? LOL!
Switching the meters doesn’t help parking problems during events at those 2 venues.
But I don’t think parking policy should be prioritized based on occasional events at 2 venues over the day to day parking needs of all RB businesses and drivers.
When they change th meters if Revs don’t increase or costs don’t go down near the projected amounts or the payback period is significantly longer, then I’ll have guessed wrong that it’s a good idea.
But if the Revs increase and costs decrease in line with the projections, and there’s a quick payback period the new meters will have been a good use of RB’s money.
It would be great if a parking garage could be financed 100% by private funds.
If the new meters are a hit there’d be interest from a private developer.
If it’s a flop the garage won’t happen at all.
A $12,000 Kiosk for Maple Cove which has 10 parking spaces? You’ve got to be kidding!!!!
Steve:
They’re wireless.
I assume the one located in Maple Cove will also cover spots on Front Street.
You assume Kevin?
The system in Asbury Park is awful. 75% of the times I’ve tried to use it it hasn’t worked well. I hope we do a pilot before fully committing.
Cindy:
Yes, I assume.
Since it’s wireless why would anyone assume it will cover only those few spaces?
Regardless as long as all of the spaces are covered by one of the machines it shouldn’t be a problem.
If anyone wants to double check the installation and make sure the machines are deployed in the proper manner they should feel free.
But I’d think there’d be a nearly infinite number of items you’ll need to check to be able to not assume everything is set up as it’s supposed to be.
David:
Maybe RBG will be able to post the contract.
It should include warranties, a service agreement and performance standards.