If you go to downtown York in the next two months you might notice something different.
On Monday the City of York’s Parking Bureau installed 30 smart meters in a pilot testing program. “At this stage we’re just gathering all of the information that we possibly can, whether residents like it, customers like it, does it make sense for us as a community to have these smart meters here,” said Deputy Business Administrator for the Parking Bureau, Cheryl Rascoe. “It’s a free trial so we are trying one vendor for 30 days and then we’re trying another vendor for another 30 days. So we’ll have them here in our community for at least 60 days. That gives us time to see if people are using them are they using the coins, are they using the credit card. Or using the card versus the coins.”
The new smart meters are located one block in each direction off the square. “They’re actually in our downtown area where some of our busiest transactions occur,” said Rascoe.
The meters are capable of accepting payment via coins, credit cards, and debit cards for the convenience of people parking downtown.
So far the feedback is good. “I think it’s a long time coming I think they’re great,” said Barbato Arvonio. “It’s good to have technology out there and have it accessible for people who don’t carry cash around or change with them everyday.”
The single space parking meters use solar power and rechargeable battery-packs to provide ongoing power and back up power. “We’re in a technological age and you know here we are in a small community but many of us are tech savvy so these types of gadgets people really appreciate,” said Rascoe.