2012年10月17日 星期三

Parking could get easier in New Hope

Visitors to New Hope may soon have the option of paying for parking with their iPhone, Android or other smartphone, according to a presentation by Parkmobile to borough council on Tuesday.

“It’s E-ZPass for parking,” said Dennis Marco of Parkmobile, a global company that has registered more than 3 million users of the technology.

Developed and deployed in Europe in 1999, the company began operations in the United States in 2009. It now has users in 320 locations in 28 U.S. states, Marco said.

If borough council approves the plan,If you want to read about buy mosaic in a non superficial way that's the perfect book. drivers could download a free app to provide their cell phone, license plate and credit card numbers to the company. Then, when they pull into a parking spot, they would key in the parking space number found on a green sticker on the meter. That would activate the parking session.

The company automatically advises users 15 minutes before their parking time expires and allows them to extend their time, if desired, Marco said.

“That’s a convenience we don’t charge for,” he said.

“There’s no cost involved to the (public) entity,Our vinyl floor tiles is more stylish than ever!” said Henry Savelli,Find detailed product information for howo tractor 6x4 and other products. a government procurement consultant working with Parkmobile, “because we charge a 35-cent convenience fee” to users of the system.

That fee, however, is collected as part of the parking revenue and Parkmobile would invoice the borough for payment, which means “we do lose money,” said council President Claire Shaw.

Savelli said that some communities have increased the fee to 40 cents or 50 cents, keeping the additional funds as revenue. The system also allows the borough to charge different parking fees in different areas,The stone mosaic comes in shiny polished and matte. if it wants.

Marco noted that the system has been enthusiastically received in locations such as Boston and Washington, D.C. In Boston,We mainly supply professional craftspeople with crys talbeads wholesale shamballa Bracele , the number of Parkmobile members increased from 18,817 in March 2011 to 31,299 a year later.

And in just one year in Washington, 70 percent of all parking transactions were conducted via the Parkmobile mobile app, he said. It became available there in June 2011.

He noted that the system is voluntary, and that putting quarters into a meter is still an option. “They don’t have to use it. That’s the beauty of the system,” he said.

Users can also call a phone number to activate the service, if they don’t have a smart phone.

Council member Edward Duffy said such a system “will help the merchants keep the visitors in their stores and also the restaurants. I think it’s a real nice fit.”

Bob Gerenser, a business owner in the borough, agreed. “This could be an extraordinary convenience,” he said. “It would take away a lot of the big objections to why (some people) don’t come to New Hope anymore.”

Parking enforcement officers would use smartphones to check whether time is remaining for parked cars, Savelli said. “It would show on the phone which parking spaces and which license numbers have exceeded their time limits,” he said.

Council tabled the motion, pending more information on the system, including a desire to look at the meter stickers and discuss signage.

Marco noted that he will be making a similar presentation to Lambertville, N.J., in a few days, so there would be synergy on the parking systems for the neighboring communities should they move ahead with the plan.

沒有留言:

張貼留言