Students and other drivers will soon be able to use debit and credit cards to pay for parking on Hillsborough Street, according to Gordon Dash, city parking administrator for Raleigh.
The city will be installing new multi-space meters to replace the current single-space meters throughout the week, Dash said.
“We chose [Hillsborough and Hargett streets] for two different reasons,” he said. “We wanted to reach a diverse clientele, so Hargett Street represents the business and professional community, and Hillsborough Street is the college crowd.”
According to Dash, there are several reasons for the switch.
“Single-space meters are very costly to maintain,” he said. “They’re costly to repair, and they’re always vandalized.”
Additional reasons for replacing the current meters are that multi-space parking meters would take up less sidewalk space and would be more convenient to use.
“Single-space meters only offer one option to pay and that’s coin,” Dash said. “We wanted to put something together that would afford customers better options.”
At the multi-space meters, customers will be able to pay with a credit card, debit card or cash.
There are currently 16 single-space meters on the section of Hillsborough Street chosen for the project and 31 on Hargett. There will be three new multi-space meters on each street when the project is finished, according to Dash.
“One multi-space machine is capable of managing as many spaces as you want it to,” Dash said. “Customers can pay for [their] space at any of the three meters that are there — so whichever is closest to where you are parking.”
The new machines will use real time, and customers can keep their receipts as reminders of when time is up on their meters. The meters will be easy for parking officers to use as well.
“When parking officers come by, all they have to do is go to any parking meter and run an audit report to list all of the spaces in the block,” Dash said. “They will ticket cars that are in the expired spaces.”
According to Dash, this “pilot project” will last approximately six months and is part of a larger, nine-month “downtown master parking plan study.”
“We are working with a very large parking consultant in the U.S.,” Dash said. “We’re receiving all our past data for parking and where we need to go in the future to keep up with the demands.”
The project is scheduled to end around June, and , if all goes well, could result in the permanent swap of single-space parking meters with multi-space meters citywide.
“The bottom line is, I want to make parking the most forgettable experience that everybody has,” Dash said. “I hope by offering a system that provides our clientele with good, reliable parking — there will be fewer citations having to be written.”
The meters should be operational by Monday, Dec. 3, according to Dash.
According to Tom Kendig, director of Transportation at the University, the meters will not affect the transportation department. However, there are similar options on campus.
“We have our pay lots underneath the Coliseum deck and the Dan Allen deck that allow you to use cash or a credit card or whatever,” he said. “We have similar-type opportunities.”
Benjamin Shelton, a senior in animal science, said he thinks multi-space meters are a good idea.
“I’m definitely for it, because it seems like it would be a lot less chaotic,” he said. “It would be a lot less calamity than with each space having its own meter.”