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Parking kiosks bolster Baltimore City revenues
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BALTIMORE (Map, News) - In a city where motorists complain of too few parking spaces and too many parking tickets, a bright spot has emerged.
Solar-powered electronic parking kiosks, introduced four years ago at parking hot spots throughout the city, have nearly doubled revenues from meters and reduced the number of tickets issued to motorists who overstay their welcome, new statistics show.
And with the City Council prepared to cast the final vote at its meeting this evening approving $2.4 million to add 280 kiosks in several neighborhoods, the timing of the new numbers couldn’t be better for proponents of the electronic meters.
The kiosks, which allow motorists to pay with a debit or credit card at a single machine and to park freely in designated areas, have increased meter revenues by nearly 50 percent on an annual basis since a successful pilot program in Charles Village led to the installation of 427 kiosks citywide.
Now spread among heavily trafficked neighborhoods such as Fells Point, Canton and Hampden, the parking kiosks have added $2.15 million to the total take from parking meters on an annual basis — from $4,444,601 between April 2003 to May 2004, when the city relied solely on coin-fed meters, to $6.6 million last year.
City officials said the significant increase in parking spaces and the ability to monitor the kiosks electronically have saved time and money that more than justify the additional costs — roughly $10,000 per kiosk.
The kiosks’ ability to free additional parking spaces — on average 10 percent more than with traditional meters — also has won support among area business owners.
“From the perspective of our association, there is more parking in Hampden since the kiosks were put into place, and that’s good,” said Benn Ray, president of the Hampden Merchants Association and the owner of Atomic Books and Atomic Pop stores.
“One issue I have is it adds an additional step for the driver, by making people get the slip and walk [back] to their car, but space has definitely increased.”
One drawback for the city has been a downward trend in the number of parking citations issued in the neighborhoods where kiosks have been installed. Department of Transportation officials still back the plan to add more kiosks, despite it putting a damper on ticket writing.
If the authorization passes the council this evening, Waverly, Govans and Greektown will be added to Canton, Fells Point and Charles Village as neighborhoods served predominantly by kiosks.
sjanis@baltimoreexaminer.com
Comments from Examiner Readers
4:23 PM MST on Tue., Aug. 19, 2008 re: "Council to look into van-accessible parking"
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10:39 PM MST on Sat., Jul. 26, 2008
re: "Meters don't make the grade"
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9:07 PM MST on Sat., Jul. 26, 2008
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8:57 AM MST on Sat., Jul. 26, 2008
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8:55 AM MST on Sat., Jul. 26, 2008
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2:32 PM MST on Mon., Feb. 4, 2008
re: "More solar-powered parking meters coming to Baltimore"
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1:20 PM MST on Fri., Jan. 25, 2008
re: "Supervisor’s measure could please opposing sides on parking issues"
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11:15 AM MST on Wed., Jan. 23, 2008
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10:01 AM MST on Wed., Jan. 23, 2008
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12:01 PM MST on Thu., May. 10, 2007
re: "Illegally parked? New system photographs it"
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9:33 AM MST on Thu., May. 10, 2007
re: "Illegally parked? New system photographs it"
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7:57 AM MST on Thu., May. 10, 2007
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4:45 AM MST on Thu., May. 10, 2007
re: "New ticket device puts illegal parkers on camera"
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Examiner Reader Sam Burrello said:
My wife is disabled and we do drive a van but not wheel chair adapted. Only a fraction of hadicap people have these vans and if not allowed to park in van accessable sites we would have to pass these spaces and walk a great distance. The spaces would be empty if not allowed by car and non adapted vans
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Jimmy said:
More things in in the United States need to be free, like medical care and housing, along with public transportation and parking. How to pay for it all, just ramp up our production and tax the wealthy down to a level thats sensible a income and relaunch the tax money in impact areas like education and research. The people can do it, but not with the team we have now in place, like people in charge like Nancy Polosi and her friends, these people and their ideas are the problem.
3 agree | 3 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
what ever happened to free parking?
3 agree | 2 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
What are the Burlingame citizens complaining about? Parking lot on Park ave. $1.00 for 10 hours...come to SF.......
2 agree | 2 disagree
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Carl said:
Come to San Francisco. Most of the meters have a time limit displayed behind scratched plastic you can't read. Guaranteed city govt here wont fix it. Not a major problem to spend city dollars on...unless of course you can't read the time limit display and get a ticket. Oh well. They don't care so why should I. I NEVER shop in San Francisco. Parking Parking Parking. I do ALL my shopping out of San Francisco. I shop at Kmart and eat at Apple Bees in Redwood City every weekend. Try it. You'll like it. Friendlier workers, no parking issues, better prices, no crowd rush, and yes the wonderful smart parking meters. Gotta love it. "Anywhere But San Francisco"
3 agree | 2 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
I love your writing style.
3 agree | 3 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
GREAT JOB KEEP up the awesome work
1 agree | 1 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
On two separate occassions the meters did not work. The first time it took my money and did not deliver a receipt. The second time it took some of my money, spit out some and did not register some, but kept it. On the first occassion the authority said they would refund my money, but it has been over a month and I have received nothing. I'm waiting for a response to the second incident but not holding my breath
251 agree | 214 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
"This is classic SF Progressive oppression of the poor. By not requiring below market rate units to provide parking, it makes life harder for the poor living there to have the same convenience regarding their cars as everyone else expects." WRONG--this measure will reduce the cost of apartments by $50,000-$80,000. That's a big chunk of change, especially for the poor, and above all for those who can't afford cars in the first place. Why should the government FORCE you to buy a parking space when you don't want one? All this rule is give you FREEDOM OF CHOICE.
183 agree | 196 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Right on Tom, poor people don't drive so why not take away their parking. You progressives give me the creeps. The minimum is ONE parking space for every FOUR units of housing and you want to take that away. Tom, you and Peskin need to Get A LIFE! I bet that Mr. Peskin has at least 2 parking spaces in his million dollar condo in Nothe Beach. Leave us alone!!!
197 agree | 203 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
This is classic SF Progressive oppression of the poor. By not requiring below market rate units to provide parking, it makes life harder for the poor living there to have the same convenience regarding their cars as everyone else expects. It makes a hard life still harder. Sad.
188 agree | 217 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
I have been in Baltimore for the last 5 years. I have a disability, because of which my lower limbs are paralyzed. Recently, I have found a spurt in disability tags for parking in the last couple of years. I surveyed 7 vehicles on Redwood street, and found five had disabled tag!!! I have found that some young people in early 20s park their vehicle and walk 5 blocks without any trouble, and I on a wheelchair is unable to get a parking place. Sometimes it has been frustrating. The cops cannot do anything, as long as these disability tags certified indiscriminately by family physicians. Unfortunately, carrying a "illegal" disabled tags no longer is a social stigma. It has become as acceptable as illegal license. I hope, this letter brings some sense of morality and social responsibility to those people using disabled tags. They should understand the hardship they are causing to the disabled community. Regards, Jeremy
343 agree | 365 disagree
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kilteddude said:
Does this mean they will stop ticketing legally parked cars? I've got 2 tickets in the last year while parked legally.
350 agree | 332 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
DAMN IT!
361 agree | 348 disagree
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Ticket Amnesty said:
Ticket fines in Baltimore are absurd....so, don't pay them. Request and officer when you go to court for your ticket+fines and if he/she doesn't show (they rarely, if ever will) you only have to pay the fine + court costs....goodbye $800 fine on $21 ticket.
643 agree | 370 disagree
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