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HomeMy WebLinkAbout17 - Parking Meter Program StatusNovember 9, 1998 CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM NO. 17 TO: Mayor and Members of the City Council FROM: Public Works Department SUBJECT: PARKING METER PROGRAM STATUS REPORT RECOMMENDATION: Receive and file. PARKING METERS — THEN AND NOW HISTORY It is not clear what year Newport Beach installed its first parking meter. It apparently was prior to 1949 as the Municipal Code for that year includes a section authorizing the Chief of Police to establish meter zones and install parking meters. The meter rate was five cents per hour and meter feeding was prohibited. (Parking meters aren't the only things that have changed in the last 50 years judging by the 1949 Municipal Code section setting speed limits for street cars.) Originally parking meters were installed on streets in the commercial areas including areas near the two piers. In 1962 the Municipal Code was revised to include metered off - street parking zones. Also in 1962 was the first differentiation between commercial and recreational parking meters. The rates for the recreational meters on 15`" Street were raised to ten cents per hour. In 1967 the Municipal Code was modified to address meters on City Hall Property and to create the Off - street Parking Facilities Fund. The Fund was to receive 50% of the revenues from on- street meters that were not deemed to be serving recreational needs. The Fund was to "be used only for the purposes of the acquisition, development, and improvement of public off- street parking facilities located within the general vicinity of the parking meters contributing to the fund, and for any expenditures necessary or convenient to accomplish said purposes ". 1967 also saw the demise of the five cents per hour parking meter as the rate structure was revised to $0.10, 0.20, or 0.25 per hour depending on the location of the meter — with one zone having meters charging $0.25 for 12 hours. On- street and off- street meters continued to be added and meter rates edged slowly upward. By Council Policy, on- street meters were added when a majority of the businesses on the street requested them. This is why certain key commercial areas such as Coast Highway through Corona del Mar and Marine Avenue on Balboa Island do not have meters yet businesses located on other sections of Coast Highway and the Peninsula have metered parking out front. SUBJECT: Parking Meter Program Status Report November 9, 1998 Page 2 Off - street meters were added to existing lots to either keep residents from storing vehicles in City lots or to produce revenue. In addition, the Off - street Parking Facilities Fund was used to develop a number of lots including the Mariners Mile Lot, the Cannery Village Lot, the Palm Street Lot and several small lots along the west side of Newport Boulevard between 28th and 30th Streets. EQUIPMENT The mainstay equipment over the years has been the mechanical parking meter. While there have been many advances in these meters to make them more accurate and more vandal resistant, the basic operation has not changed. The City has tested prototypes for several new meter concepts over the years including meters that reset to zero when a car leaves and early electronic meters. Most of these prototypes had serious operational problems so we stayed with the tried and true mechanical meters. Approximately five years ago we began purchasing electronic meters because we felt they were developed to the point that they were reliable. We have implemented them slowly to gauge public acceptance and to test their reliability. They are also about 35% more expensive. A mechanical meter costs approximately $225 versus $303 for an electronic meter. These meters also require annual replacement of a 9V battery. We also have purchased software and hardware that allows us to reprogram the electronic meters when rates change and to track our meter operations with various data bases. This year is the last year that our vendor will offer mechanical meters. They are going exclusively to electronic meters. We have a meter replacement program that replaces worn out meters on an average seven -year cycle. So over the next six or seven years all of our meters will become electronic or they will be replaced with some sort of centralized payment equipment. The Public Works Department also operates a very low -tech pay box in the Superior Avenue Lot which accepts coins and bills that are rolled up and stuffed into a slot corresponding to the parking stall being used. This lot is normally vacant except on summer weekends and it was felt that meters would not be cost effective in this lot. NEW PARKING REVENUE COLLECTION TECHNOLOGY The computer age has come to parking revenue collection. In addition to the basic electronic parking meter, there are a number of other "higher tech" options now available. One of the most common is the use of "smart card" technology. Electronic parking meters can be equipped for about $35 with a device that allows a cylindrical shaped smart card a.k.a. "key' to be used in addition to coins. The key is purchased from the City with a certain dollar amount on it. Each time the key is inserted, a quarter's worth of time is put on the meter and deducted from the key. This is a great convenience factor and has been well patronized in the City of West Hollywood where their key sales have been doubling each year and they credit the increase in overall parking revenue largely to the key program. Another option is parking meters that accept debit cards. They are generally considered to be less convenient than the keys, but function identically. An advantage of the debit cards is that with certain compatible equipment, the same parking debit SUBJECT: Parking Meter Program Status Report November 9, 1998 Page 3 card can be used at centralized pay stations as well as parking meters. The meter keys are not compatible with other equipment at the present time. Central pay stations have been in use for many years but have become increasingly sophisticated. There are two types of central pay stations, Pay and Display or Pay per Space. With Pay and Display you purchase the time you want and the machine issues a receipt that is time stamped and must be displayed on the vehicle dash. One advantage of this type of equipment is that it does not require that spaces be marked or numbered. The Pay per Space machines require you to enter the number of the parking space and then purchase the amount of time you wish to park. This type of machine may or may not issue a receipt. Central pay stations are convenient because they accept coins as well as dollar bills. They can also be set up to accommodate debit cards and credit cards. A machine is needed for each 50 to 100 spaces and they cost approximately $15,000 each. If they are set up to accept credit cards, the City would also incur the expense of processing charges. Central pay stations have been used primarily in parking lots for several reasons. They can be located near the entrance and are therefor highly visible to those entering the lot If they are of the Pay and Display type, the motorist can often stop on the way into the lot and pay rather than having to park, walk to the pay station, get the receipt and then walk back to put their car to place the receipt on the dash. Some cities have experimented with using them in conjuntion with on- streeet parking, with mixed results. Attached is a recent newspaper article describing the problem St. Petersburg, Florida had when they used central pay stations for on- street parking. Several cities using central pay stations were contacted to get information on how well the machines perform, public acceptance and enforcement. About half of the cities experienced major problems with these machines, primarily with the electronics. The other cities have had some problems, but consider the machines to be viable as long as there are at least two machines available within relatively short distance, in case one breaks down. From the City's standpoint, if there is only one machine and it is down, the entire lot becomes free parking. Where these machines have been installed in new or previously unmetered parking lots, the public acceptance has been good. Where they have replaced meters there have been complaints. These complaints have generally been related to the instructions for the machines being much more complicated than a parking meter; the machines being out of service; and in the case of Pay and Display the need to walk to the machine, get the slip, walk back to the car to put the slip on the dash and finally to walk to the destination. PARKING ENFORCEMENT IMPLICATIONS Mechanical meters have proven to be the easiest method of collecting parking revenues while being very quick and easy from an enforcement standpoint. With these meters there is a bright red flag which shows when the meter is expired. This enables enforcement personnel to drive, bike or walk a metered area and quickly spot violatQ& Electronic meters use a flashing red Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) to show they SUBJECT: Parking Meter Program Status Report November 9, 1998 Page 4 expired. This type of display is not as visible, particularly in bright sunlight. This means enforcement personnel must drive more slowly, which can be a safety concern on some streets, or they must park and walk the area. The pay box in the Superior Lot requires enforcement personnel to open the box to note which spaces are paid, and then to circulate through the lot and write the license numbers of those vehicles whose operators have paid and finally cite those vehicles that are not paid for. This must be repeated several times per day to ensure that newly arriving vehicles have deposited money in the box. Enforcement varies depending on the type of central pay station used. Pay and Display requires the officer to look in the window of each vehicle and read the receipt to determine whether the time paid for has expired or not. These machines typically only print on one side of the receipt, so if it is upside down on the dash it becomes an problem for the officer. People will get very upset if they are ticketed because the receipt is upside down. Pay per space stations allow the officer to print out a list of either the spaces that are paid for or a list of those that are not paid. They then must check the spaces on the list. If the list is for a large lot, they must typically allow a grace period or make a second check to make sure that someone did not put money in after they printed the list. RELATED ACTIVITIES The Parking Management Plan Study that is currently underway is also looking at the way parking revenues are collected. The consultant is expected to make their recommendations to the City Council in February on a number of changes to the parking program, including rates, equipment, validations, time limits and enforcement methods. RespectfVly, submitted, PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT Don Webb, Director By. _rt��Clititt'wJ Richard Edmonston, P.E. 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