Parking Meter System Analysis
R.A.M. Associates
Thirteen Lori Street
Monroe Township, NJ 08831-8637
Phone: 732-251-3330
Fax: 732-251-4040
E-mail: ramassoc@home.comWe recently had the opportunity to conduct a parking meter system analysis for a mid sized US city. The information is factual with some minor description change so as not to disclose the city’s name. Our original assignment was to assist the City in making a determination on converting to electronic meters, but it quickly became apparent that some additional investigation was necessary.
Overview
The population is just over 700,000, and the parking meter system consists of 4,400 meters, all of which are mechanical except for 300 in the Central Business District (CBD). There are a little more than 1,400 meters in the CBD and operate from Monday thru Friday from 8:00 am - 6:00 pm at a rate of $0.25 per 15 minutes ($1.00/hour) with a two hour maximum. There are approximately 700 meters adjacent to the City University that also operate Monday thru Friday, 8:00 am – 6:00 pm, but at a rate of $0.25 per 30 minutes ($0.50/hour) with a four hour maximum.
Another 900 meters are adjacent to a sports complex on the fringe of the CBD, which has a multi purpose arena (basketball, hockey, shows, etc.) and a minor league baseball team. They are in effect only during events and have a rate of $0.25 per 15 minutes ($1.00/hour) with a four-hour maximum. The remainder of the meters are spread out over several street shopping areas in different parts of the city. These meters operate Monday thru Saturday from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm at a rate of $0.25 per 20 minutes ($0.75/hour) with a two-hour maximum time.
The Parking Division of the Transportation Department operates the meter system. The Division consists of a Parking Manager, several administrative and clerical staff, an operations supervisor, and eight meter technicians who are responsible for maintaining and collecting the meters. There is also a Parking Enforcement Unit consisting of seven Parking Enforcement Officers (PEO’s) and one supervisor who also writes parking tickets. All Parking Division personnel work Monday thru Friday 8:00 am – 4:30 pm.
All decisions regarding parking meters (i.e. new installations, removals, changes in operations, etc.) are made by a committee comprised of the Parking Manager, the Traffic Engineer, and a representative of the Mayor’s office. However, the Traffic Engineer may supersede the Committee where matters of public safety are involved. For example removing meters near an intersection to provide adequate visibility for vehicular traffic. There is also an advisory board made up of representatives of private business and governmental agencies that makes recommendations to the Committee.
Collections
Meter collections are done every day by two crews of three persons each, with one crew returning to the facility at lunchtime to count the previous day’s revenue. The full canisters are locked in the counting room overnight, but are not weighed or even checked by the supervisor. The vault locks use a 10 key combination coded to the last digit of the meter number. All upper housings are keyed alike, and all personnel carry this key so that the collectors while completing their routes can make minor repairs.
Security initiatives can be described as minimal at best. The coin collection canisters are locked with only a Master lock, all of which are keyed alike, and no security seals are used. (We demonstrated during our observations how easy it is to obtain a duplicate of this key; thus giving us access to the money. Vault keys are kept in a locked cabinet and assigned to the personnel by the shop supervisor. But the cabinet is routinely left unlocked and unattended.
Maintenance
After the collection route assignments are made each day, the remaining technicians are assigned to perform meter maintenance either in the shop or in the field responding to reports of broken meters. No preventive maintenance patrols are made.
Enforcement
Most of the PEO’s are assigned to foot patrols in the CBD, and one officer each to the University area and the shopping districts. These officers share one vehicle; one drops off another in their assigned area, and picks them up at the end of the shift. This sharply curtails their effectiveness. Also, since they all work Monday thru Friday 8 - 4:30, at least during some of the operating days and/or hours of the meter system there is no enforcement presence. A fact that we found has a significant effect on motorists complying with paying the parking meters, even though the Police are responsible for enforcement during those periods. Several Police officers acknowledged that they rarely write parking tickets. All tickets are handwritten.
Fines for meter violations are $20.00 in the CBD, and $10.00 in all other areas. The City does not allow meter feeding, but they do also not enforce the time limits. We found compliance to be generally good where the PEO’s patrol regularly, not as good where the presence is sparse, and very poor when there is no presence at all.
Revenue
The Parking Division’s annual revenue was $2 million; $1.2 million generated by the meters, with an additional $0.8 million in ticket revenue. Based on the meter rates and the occupancy we observed, we calculated that the revenue should have been considerably more. Also, it is much more common for ticket revenue to be higher than the meter revenue.
Summary
There were many signals that an analysis of the overall operation was warranted. By identifying them and recommending corrective action and changes in procedures, we were able to double the revenue for this city! If any of these conditions are prevalent in your operation, or to learn more about what we can do for your system, contact our office toll free at 866-251-3330.
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