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Rockville will get advanced parking space-finding system
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Related Topics: Rockville
Rockville (Map, News) - Montgomery County residents who work in Rockville may soon find parking a much less daunting endeavor.
The county’s seat is primed to get one of the most technologically advanced parking information systems in the nation.
In three new public parking garages, motorists will have the ability to know as soon as they enter whether there are open spots and precisely where. It’s a feature city officials said will save much-needed time for visitors and workers in the city.
“As you’re driving around the garage, red and green lights above the spots will light up to show if it’s available or not,” said Neil Greenberger, Rockville’s public information director. “That way you don’t have to go from aisle to aisle looking. ... This is a really important thing for the city.”
The new parking garages will have a combined capacity of about 1,000 spaces. They are set to open at staggered dates during the spring, when merchants will open new businesses and recreational buildings as part of a massive transformation of downtown Rockville that’s been in the making for decades.
“We wanted ease of parking to be a big part of the project,” he said. “For a lot of places parking is a hindrance. But we think this will make it appealing to come to downtown Rockville.”
Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport has a space-finding system like the one Rockville will install. Only a handful of other facilities across the country feature similar systems open to the public.
The price tag for Rockville’s system is about $1.3 million, which the mayor and Council members approved spending earlier this year. Altogether the three public garages will cost $35 million and be paid for through bonds.
According to Greenberger, parking will cost $1 per hour during the week up to 10 p.m.; it’s free on weekends and late weeknights. Another innovative feature still being worked out is the presence of card systems for parking payment.
“The pay stations will be remote-activated,” he said. “So if your parking meter runs low, you don’t have to run down to the garage. You can just got to the box near the restaurant where you’re eating or by your office and replenish the meter from there.”
What’s next
» Rockville officials are going through bids from companies vying to install a state-of-the-art parking system in the city’s three upcoming public parking garages. The goal is to have all the parking features in place by early April.
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
re: "Meters don't make the grade"
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1:12 PM MST on Sat., Jul. 26, 2008
re: "Meters don't make the grade"
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11:30 AM MST on Sat., Jul. 26, 2008
re: "Meters don't make the grade"
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8:57 AM MST on Sat., Jul. 26, 2008
re: "Meters don't make the grade"
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8:55 AM MST on Sat., Jul. 26, 2008
re: "Meters don't make the grade"
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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
re: "Supervisor’s measure could please opposing sides on parking issues"
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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
re: "Illegally parked? New system photographs it"
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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
2 agree | 1 disagree
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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?
4 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"
4 agree | 2 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
I love your writing style.
4 agree | 4 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
GREAT JOB KEEP up the awesome work
1 agree | 2 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
252 agree | 215 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.
184 agree | 197 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!!!
198 agree | 204 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.
189 agree | 218 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 | 367 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.
351 agree | 333 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.
644 agree | 371 disagree
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