Thought this was interesting. I remember it being talked about on Urban Review St. Louis.
'Cash or credit?' comes to parking meters
Experiment tried on South Grand
By Jim Merkel
Wednesday, November 8, 2006 2:22 AM CST
Movie theaters take them; McDonald's takes them; and so do soda machines.
Now in one South Side shopping district, parking meters are accepting credit cards and debit cards.
Heeding the request of the South Grand Community Improvement District and Alderman Jennifer Florida, D-15th Ward, the St. Louis Treasurer's Office has temporarily removed parking meters for about 60 different parking spaces on South Grand Boulevard from Arsenal Street south to Wyoming Street.
From now through Feb. 28, they're being replaced with devices that will accept Master Card or Visa credit cards and debit cards, as well as coins.
Parking with plastic is seen as the answer to one of life's minor inconveniences.
"Do you always have change in your pocket," asked Stephen Baker, director of planning support services for the Treasurer's Office.
Mike Baldwin, a home developer living near Old North St. Louis, looked at one of the devices on South Grand and said he used them when he lived in Berkeley, Calif.
"I loved it. It's much easier than finding change," Baldwin said. "It'll work for me."
The minimum charge for credit or debit cards is $1. That's a buck whether a person is just running into a store for five minutes or staying the maximum of two hours.
Like regular parking meters, the South Grand devices operate from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays. The rate is the same is standard meters, 50 cents an hour, with a maximum of two hours.
The meters are familiar to drivers in other parts of the country and in Europe. Whether they will catch on here is something that won't be known until after Feb. 28. That's when the Treasurer's Office, which handles parking meters in the city, will evaluate the success of the experiment and see if it wants to install the devices permanently.
After drivers have had a month to use the new meters, the South Grand Community Improvement District will do a survey to see how people like them, said Rachel Witt, executive director of the district, which covers the area from Arsenal south to Utah Street.
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'Cash or credit?' comes to parking meters
Experiment tried on South Grand
By Jim Merkel
Wednesday, November 8, 2006 2:22 AM CST
Movie theaters take them; McDonald's takes them; and so do soda machines.
Now in one South Side shopping district, parking meters are accepting credit cards and debit cards.
Heeding the request of the South Grand Community Improvement District and Alderman Jennifer Florida, D-15th Ward, the St. Louis Treasurer's Office has temporarily removed parking meters for about 60 different parking spaces on South Grand Boulevard from Arsenal Street south to Wyoming Street.
From now through Feb. 28, they're being replaced with devices that will accept Master Card or Visa credit cards and debit cards, as well as coins.
Parking with plastic is seen as the answer to one of life's minor inconveniences.
"Do you always have change in your pocket," asked Stephen Baker, director of planning support services for the Treasurer's Office.
Mike Baldwin, a home developer living near Old North St. Louis, looked at one of the devices on South Grand and said he used them when he lived in Berkeley, Calif.
"I loved it. It's much easier than finding change," Baldwin said. "It'll work for me."
The minimum charge for credit or debit cards is $1. That's a buck whether a person is just running into a store for five minutes or staying the maximum of two hours.
Like regular parking meters, the South Grand devices operate from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays. The rate is the same is standard meters, 50 cents an hour, with a maximum of two hours.
The meters are familiar to drivers in other parts of the country and in Europe. Whether they will catch on here is something that won't be known until after Feb. 28. That's when the Treasurer's Office, which handles parking meters in the city, will evaluate the success of the experiment and see if it wants to install the devices permanently.
After drivers have had a month to use the new meters, the South Grand Community Improvement District will do a survey to see how people like them, said Rachel Witt, executive director of the district, which covers the area from Arsenal south to Utah Street.
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