No Time Left on the Meter -- By Design
Saturday, July 8, 2006; Page D01
In the exasperating quest for street parking, victory comes in tiny increments -- the stray 20 minutes left on the meter by the driver who just pulled away, for example.
A Bethesda company, IntelliPark LLC, wants to take that small pleasure away. It is marketing a parking meter called IntelliMeter that uses sonar technology to detect when a space is occupied and resets the meter to zero every time a car moves out.
  The IntelliMeter takes away the triumph of finding a parking meter with time remaining. (By Preston Keres -- The Washington Post) |
"You take away that free lunch, but on the other hand that's tax revenue," said IntelliPark chief executive Glen A. Hellman.
The company is one of several exploring technologically savvy parking systems as a way for municipalities to control street congestion and bring in extra revenue at the same time.
Major cities such as New York and Baltimore have installed "smart parking" systems in some areas that allow for easier payment with credit cards, smart cards or even cellphones.
In Georgetown and Arlington, drivers pay fees at one multi-space box on a block or print out receipts they put on their dashboards.
The next wave of parking technology is expected to go a step further by networking the meters and giving local officials daily or weekly reports about what's happening on the streets.
Another company, InnovaPark LLC of Westport, Conn., uses magnetic sensors to monitor spaces.
Neither company's system is in wide use. IntelliPark has installed its meters in Reading, Pa., and InnovaPark has installed its system in a few towns in California. Hyattsville in Prince George's County is expected to start a pilot project using IntelliPark's sonar meters next week.
IntelliPark charges $175 for a meter -- comparable to conventional parking meters -- and $7 a month more to lease the vehicle sensors.
While a main selling point is the chance to collect more money from each meter, Hellman said the network of sensors also can help cities better manage street parking by cutting down on street congestion and reducing the amount of fuel wasted by motorists hunting for spaces.
According to a study of a 15-block area in Los Angeles over a year, drivers racked up almost 1 million vehicle miles cruising for parking spots, said Donald Shoup, a professor of urban planning at the University of California at Los Angeles.
