ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT
Date: June 7, 1995
TO: Vancouver City Council
FROM: General Manager of Engineering Services
SUBJECT: On-Street Parking Control Equipment
RECOMMENDATION
A. THAT Engineering Services continue its ongoing review of on-
street parking equipment options to ensure that the technology
used by the City of Vancouver provides the best value for the
citizens of the City. Currently electronic parking meters
provide the best value with the potential for future use of
debit card technologies.
B. THAT the General Manager of Engineering Services in
consultation with the Director of Permits and Licenses and
Director of Finance evaluate the options for an In Vehicle
Parking Meter (IVPM) program, initially for use by commercial
vehicles, and report back to Council.
C. THAT a consultant be retained to assist staff in reviewing the
security of Vancouver's parking meter operations and its
structure at an estimated cost of $40,000. Funds for this
work to be provided from the Parking Meter Replacement
Reserve.
COUNCIL POLICY
There is no Council policy directly applicable to this matter.
PURPOSE
This report reviews on-street parking control equipment options,
including a review of other cities and new technologies.
SUMMARY
In response to Council's request staff have reviewed various options for
on-street parking controls. These options included parking meters, pay
and display, and pay station equipment. This review included
information from cities in North America and Europe as well as detailed
evaluation of the costs and benefits of each option.
In North America all cities rely on parking meters with a growing trend
toward electronic equipment. In Europe there is a mix of meters and pay
and display equipment with meters being the choice in many busy
locations. The evaluation shows that parking meters are the most
economic and convenient choice for on-street parking control. They are
also easier to enforce and are reliable.
Parking meters continue to provide best value for street control.
Depending on the economics of the equipment it appears that the City
should consider electronic meters and possibly smart card meters once a
universal card standard is achieved. This could improve the public
convenience, provide positive audit controls and reduce maintenance
costs.
The City could also consider the use of In Vehicle Parking Meters,
particularly for select groups of users like commercial vehicles. This
device would complement the City's parking meters and could be used to
regulate presently unregulated zones such as commercial lanes or
commercial zones.
Pay and display equipment continues to be a recommended option for off-
street parking lots, where more spaces can be served, walking distances
are less, and space turnover is lower than on-street.
BACKGROUND
On December 13, 1994, City Council resolved that staff investigate
alternatives to parking meters on streets, in particular the use of pay
and display equipment, with emphasis on the economics of pay and
display, how it could be implemented and where trials could be
undertaken in the city. City staff have been proactive in reviewing
equipment options and have been testing different types of parking
meters including electronic equipment for many years. The City also has
much experience with pay and display equipment used in the City's off-
street parking operations. In undertaking this review staff looked at
various alternatives to parking meters, reviewed street controls in
other cities, and reevaluated the costs and benefits of each
alternative.
STREET PARKING CONTROL ALTERNATIVES
The following is a brief description of various alternatives for street
parking control. The detailed listing of advantages and disadvantages
of each of these alternatives is attached as
Appendix A.
A. Mechanical Parking Meters
Parking meters have been in use in Vancouver since the late 1940's.
There are some recent changes with the introduction of electronic
mechanisms for parking meters, however, the basic parking meter has
not changed substantially, and is still the method of choice to
control street parking in North America. The City of Vancouver
generally uses double headed meters. The cost of a double meter is
$750.00.
B. Electronic Parking Meters - coin only acceptance
This equipment is a refinement of the mechanical parking meter.
The clock mechanism is replaced by an electronic timing device, and
in most units the coin discrimination device is replaced by an
electronic coin sensor. These units provide positive auditing and
do not require the customer to turn a handle to activate the meter.
Vancouver has tested various electronic meters over the past 8
years and currently has 100 of these units in use. The cost of a
double electronic meter is $920.00.
C. Electronic Parking Meter - smart card acceptance
This equipment is similar to the above with the addition of a
proprietary smart card reader. This equipment has just been
developed by several parking meter suppliers and is designed to
accept a prepaid debit card. There are no meters that have been
designed to accept a credit card or common debit card, yet. The
cost of a double smart card meter is estimated to be $1000.00.
D. Pay and Display Equipment - coin only acceptance
This equipment is used extensively on private property for the
control of self-park lots. Typically one unit can control up to
one hundred parking spaces with a walking distance of two to three
hundred feet (from vehicle and back). On street, one unit could
typically serve 10 spaces with the same walking distances. The
cost/unit for a unit that can be used on the street ranges from
$5,000.00 to $10,000.00.
E. Pay and Display Equipment - credit card acceptance
This equipment is a refinement of the above equipment that will
accept credit cards. This type of control equipment was pioneered
in Vancouver, and is now relatively common in use in other parts of
Canada and the U.S. The cost per unit ranges from $6,000.00 to
$15,000.00.
F. Pay Station Equipment
This equipment is similar to the above equipment, however, the
customer does not have to return to their vehicle to display a
ticket as the equipment is designed to identify payment for a
marked space. All street spaces would have to be individually
identified and numbered and it would be difficult to achieve this
on street. The cost per unit ranges from $10,000.00 to $18,000.00.
REVIEW OF OTHER CITIES
City staff have contacted many jurisdictions in North America and some
in Europe to request information about their street parking controls,
and in particular, if they have used alternative control devices, such
as pay and display equipment. The findings from the survey indicate
that all jurisdictions in North America still support parking meters as
the control device of preference for city streets. A number of
jurisdictions have considered pay and display equipment, and a number
also installed this equipment, particularly in the U.S. because they do
not have a dollar coin. The most extensive trial of the equipment was
in New York City, where, after some period of time, 200 pay and display
units were removed because of problems they encountered. A summary of
this information is in the following Table 1. Vancouver's meter
operations relative to other cities appears to be one of the best. The
City has low operating costs and high net revenues.
TABLE 1
City Number of Annual Rev. Type of Equipment Comments
meter spaces
Boston 7,500 10,000,000 Mechanical meters Emphasis or coin collections for program
1330/space success. (Daily collection in busy areas)
Calgary 3,800 3,500,000 Electronic mechanical Going to fully electronic meters with
920/space meters + IVPM smart cards. IVPM only interim program.
(Commercial vehicles)
Chicago 26,000 16,000,000 Mechanical meters all Emphasis in enforcement and ticket
615/space single head meters collection. Private company runs ticket
collection program.
Edmonton 3,200 2,700,000 300 electronics More electronics and may try pay and
840/space display to allow merchants to validate
coupons.
New York 61,000 48,000,000 2,000 electronics Installed 200 pay and display units and
790/space pulled them out after 6 months. Too high
maintenance and lack of public support.
Purchasing more electronic meters.
Portland 5,400 5,400,000 150 electronic tested Going to electronic meters (need $1.00
1000/space coin)
San 5,300 4,100,000 Mechanical meters May consider electronics.
Diego 770/space IVPM limited use.
Seattle 9,500 9,000,000 500 electronic meters Looked at pay and display and ruled it
950/space out.
Toronto 9,500 8,500,000 Mechanical meters Converting to twin from single meters and
890/space single headed meters using electronic mechanisms.
Vancouve 5,500 6,100,000 Twin mechanical Installed 100 electronic meters.
r 1070/space meters
In Europe there is greater use of pay and display equipment. They have
not had the same history of parking meters as we have in North America.
There is also less street parking and with their narrow sidewalks and
streets, which are common, parking meters are not a practical
alternative. Because of this there is more acceptance of the
inconvenience and higher costs associated with pay and display
equipment. Parking meters still tend to be used inhigh turn over areas.
EVALUATION OF OPTIONS
A number of factors have been considered in an evaluation of street
parking controls. These include: economics; reliability; customer
convenience; enforcement; aesthetics; and control of street use.
Economics
The various costs associated with the different types of parking control
devices have been reviewed and the following table illustrates the
relative economics of each type of equipment. These figures are based
on our experiences with both mechanical and electronic meters in
Vancouver, and ours and other city's experiences with pay and display
equipment, mostly in off-street parking lots. On the basis of this
evaluation mechanical and electronic parking meters both provide the
most economical option with electronic meters favoured because of other
benefits.
TABLE 2
COST/REVENUE COMPARISON
Mechanical Electronic Smart Card Pay & Display Pay and display Pay Station
Meters Meters Meters coin only credit card
Capital costs 750/2 spaces 920/2 spaces 1000/2 spaces 4500/10 spaces 7000/10 spaces 10,000/10 spaces
purchase (20 yr. life) (20 yr. life) (10 yr.life) (10 yr. life) (10 yr. life)
Installation 100/2 spaces 100/2 spaces 100/2 spaces 150/10 spaces 150/10 spaces 150/10 spaces
Power ------ ------ ------ 500/10 spaces 500/10 spaces 500/10 spaces
Signing ------ ------ ------ 200/10 spaces 200/10 spaces 200/10 spaces
Total 850/2 spaces 1020/2 spaces 1100/2 spaces 5350/10 spaces 7850/10 spaces 10,850/10 spaces
Total annualized 45/space/yr. 55/space/yr. 59/spaces/yr. 81/space/yr. 118/space/yr. 164/spaces/yr.
cost/space
@ 9% interest
Maintenance 35/space/yr. 25/space/yr. 30/space/yr. 30/space/yr. 30/space/yr. 25/space/yr.
Collections 35/space/yr. 35/space/yr. 35-/space/yr. 40/space/yr. 35/space/yr. 40/space/yr.
5/space/yr. (includes credit
(credit card card fee)
fee @25% usage)
Total cost/space 115/space/yr. 115/space/yr. 124/space/yr. 151/space/yr. 188/space/yr. 229/space/yr.
Total cost/year 621,000 627,000 682,000 830,000 1,034,000 1,260,000
(5,500 spaces)
Revenue
Gross meters rev. 5,900,000
(1070/space)
Net meter rev. 5,306,000
Net enforcement rev. 1,000,000
(meters only)
Total net revenue 6,306,000
meter ops.,
including
enforcement
The net revenues from the on-street parking meters operations go
into the City's general revenues, to off set City tax
requirements.
Reliability
Street parking control options must be able to stand up to very
rigorous treatment. Equipment on the street is exposed to the
elements and often to very rugged use or misuse. Our experience
with mechanical parking meters has shown that the average
lifespan is 20 plus years with an average of two service calls
per year.
Up until recently the City's meters have been problem free.
Recently parking meters have been subject to theft and other
problems related to reduced maintenance and collections because
of job actions. These problems have been resolved and should not
reoccur. The City's meters are an average of 5 years old, and
still have many years of productive use.
For many years we have tested electronic meters and only now are
they developed to be reliable enough to meet our street use need.
Recent experience indicates roughly two services calls per year
for every 10 meters. This is less than half the service
requirement for mechanical meters.
Pay and display equipment requires higher maintenance and
generally has a 10-year lifespan. Paper stock must be renewed on
a regular basis and the equipment, like parking meters, is
subject to tampering and jams. However, when pay and display
equipment is out of order it affects multiple spaces rather than
one space. There have also been theft and vandalism problems
with pay and display equipment. In Stanley Park lower cost units
with coin slides were inappropriate and 53 of 70 units were lost
to vandalism and theft, and prior to removing this equipment, New
York City had theft problems with their pay and display units.
Customer convenience
There are three main factors to consider for public convenience.
These are: ease of operation and understanding, range of payment
options, and walking distance to make payment.
Ease of operation
Mechanical parking meters are easily recognized and understood by
the public due to their long history of use on streets throughout
North America. Electronic meters have a straight coin drop and
do not require the public to operate the equipment. Pay and
display equipment is common in off-street parking lots where it
has public acceptance. Public acceptance of pay and display on
streets is not known. If pay and display were used on the street
it would require additional signing for legal purposes and to
educate the public about the equipment.
Payment options
Mechanical parking meters are limited to the acceptance of coins
($.25 and $1.00 in Vancouver). This is much better than in the
U.S. where they do not have a $1 coin. Credit card and debit
card technologies have been slow to come to meters with the first
units now being developed. Pay and display equipment can accept
credit cards. This technology was developed in Vancouver a
number of years ago and is now quite common on private parking
lots.
Walking distances
Parking meters are located at each parking space and provide a
high level of convenience for the public. Pay and display
equipment is located at a central location and walking distances
are dependant on the number of meters served by each machine. To
maintain an average walking distance of 120 feet, 6 units would
be required to serve the 4 sides of a typical city block. This
walking distance could be a significant inconvenience to the
public, particularly for anyone with a disability. The extra
distance walked would be roughly 500,000 kms per year and this
represents a significant cost to the public.
Enforcement
There needs to be adequate enforcement to ensure that any option
works well. The degree and ease of enforcement is an important
factor that affects the overall economics of the parking
operation. The mechanical parking meter because of its
visibility on the street is the easiest to enforce. With pay and
display equipment a coupon is displayed within the vehicle. This
is more difficult for enforcement staff to identify as every
vehicle dash must be checked, reducing enforcement efficiency.
The coupons can fall off dashboards or be positioned incorrectly.
In addition to being much more difficult to enforce, it could
open the City to more by-law court challenges.
Aesthetics
Parking meters located at the curb are a highly visible element
of the streetscape. The City of Vancouver uses twin meters,
which require half the number of meter posts as a single meter,
and supplemental signing is not needed. However, there are still
five times the number of support posts needed than for pay and
display equipment.
Pay and display equipment on the other hand requires added street
signing, and is a larger piece of equipment that would take up a
greater amount of street space, similar to a newspaper vending
box. Control of street space
The principal reason for street parking controls is to ensure
that parking turn over is adequate to support demand for short
time parking for shoppers and business customers. This ensures
that public benefits are maximized. All the options examined
provide varying levels of control of the street. Parking meters
are the best to provide control over individual spaces for
construction or filming use where temporary reservation of some
spaces is required. This control has been a problem where pay
and display equipment is used in Europe.
PAY AND DISPLAY TRIAL
The economics and increased inconvenience of pay and display
equipment do not support its use. However, if Council wishes,
the General Manger of Engineering Services could install a trial
of pay and display units. This could be done on the 1200 block
of Pacific Boulevard. This block has street level commercial
businesses that have requested the installation of parking meters
to control all-day parking.
Two units would be required to control the 22 spaces on this
block and they would be located in the mid 1/3's of the block
approximately 150 feet apart. The cost to purchase and install
this equipment and the necessary signing is estimated to be
$16,000. It is estimated that the annual revenues would be
$7,000 at the current rate of $.50/hour for this area.
It should be noted that the cost to install 22 mechanical parking
meters on this block would be approximately $9,000 and yield
equivalent revenue.
POSSIBLE IN VEHICLE PARKING METER (IVPM) PROGRAM
A recent development to control street use is the in vehicle
parking meter. This is an electronic device that is activated
and displayed in a vehicle parked in a controlled area. This
device is purchased with a set amount of time and is
rechargeable. The time is priced at rate set by the City that
could vary by area or use.
The IVPM offers a number of advantages. It is paid for in
advance and a receipt is issued that can be used for tax
purposes. No coins are required at meters. It allows the user
to pay for only the actual amount of time used.
It would also allow the City to better regulate unmetered zones
such as commercial vehicle zones and commercial lanes.
The technology is still being developed, however, it is
recommended that the General Manager of Engineering Services work
with the Directors or Finance, and Permits and Licenses to
investigate options for an IVPM program, initially for commercial
vehicle use and report back to Council by the end of
1995.SECURITY AND EFFICIENCY OF METER OPERATIONS AND COLLECTIONS
While the City's meter program is well run and compares
favourably to other cities' operation, improvements could still
be made. One of the successes noted in our review was in
Boston, where an emphasis has been made on more frequent coin
collections. There has also been considerable debate internally
about the security of meter systems. It is recommended that a
staff team comprising Engineering and Financial Services staff
thoroughly review the parking meter operations with on emphasis
on security and efficiency. This review would also consider
combining the meter collections and maintenance functions. An
outside consultant is recommended to aid staff in this review and
would be able to provide service to the City in evaluating our
program. This is estimated to cost $40,000 and funding for the
work should be provided from the Parking Meter Replacement
Reserve.
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