The Pros and Cons of Parking Meter Solutions
Posted: Sept, 02, 2020 10:04AM ET • 2 min read
When you start exploring paid parking solutions for your facility, it’s likely that parking meters will come to mind. Like any other system a metered solution provides you with a number of benefits as well as some challenges. It really depends on your customer service and financial goals.
Parking meters have been around for decades. As a result, they’ve evolved to become very efficient solutions for many parking facilities. Below are some of the pros of automated parking meters:
Reduced initial capital costs
Familiar interfaces and intuitive payment experiences
Solar power and cellular communications means no cabling is required in surface or uncovered parking facilities
Multi-payment methods, such as credit card, tap-and-go, mobile payment applications, and coin
Speedy lot entry and exits
Unified reporting dashboards
Real-time data, alarms, and statuses sent to live central management systems
Reliable and durable quality
The reality is however, parking meters may not always be the most optimal choice when it comes to parking equipment.
As an honour system parking meters traditionally provide less revenue capture
Customers sometimes forget their license plate number or have difficulty entering information into the system (Pay-by-License-Plate)
Some systems do require proof of payment on a dashboard (Pay-and-Display)
Validations are challenging because it is a pre-pay system
Regular parking enforcement for compliance is required (additional labour costs)
Receiving a parking ticket is a negative customer experience
Generally speaking, parking meter solutions are still very popular for a reason: they work well when combined with solutions like parking enforcement, proper signage, mobile parking payment apps, and of course, ongoing maintenance and technical support so that they’re able to collect revenue at all times.
A great first step is to think about types of customers who use your facility, your location, your customer service goals, and your budget. Once you have this information a parking solutions provider can help you navigate the pros and cons of a metered system, and find a suitable solution for your organization.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bosco Tse
Client Relations Manager
In his twelve years in the parking industry, Bosco has earned the respect of his colleagues and clients alike by being a valuable and dependable resource to address their needs. In his current role at Precise ParkLink, he supports his clients in all aspects of their parking operations, including cost budgeting, financial analysis, project management, implementation, and scheduling. As a believer in continual self-improvement, and demonstrating his willingness to challenge himself to serve his clients better, Bosco recently earned his project management certificate from Ryerson University, and is currently working toward his PMP designation.
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