Lower Merion considers options for aging parking meters

LOWER MERION – Unable to find replacement parts for their aging parking meters, Lower Merion officials are considering what to do about them.

Gerald Adams, director of parking services for Lower Merion, recently discussed his department’s concerns over the parking meters during a police committee meeting.

“Our parking meters are aging out of their usefulness; they are slowly failing, and what we need to do is determine a way forward to pay for parking in Lower Merion,” Adams said.

Adams said the current meters the township uses are over 13 years old and are aging out. They are recommended for replacement every ten years. The meters they last purchased over a decade ago were from a company that has since gone out of business, and they can no longer get parts for the meters or the coin collection carts.

According to Adams, the meters in the 1930s were designed with a spring-loaded mechanism, and over the next 45 years, the only advancement they made was switching to a battery-powered digital clock. Now, another 45 years later, cell phones are being used to pay for parking.

Currently, Lower Merion operates and maintains 1,302 public parking meters. People using the meters have a few payment options, including feeding coins directly into the meters, using reloadable E-Z Park smart cards purchased from township parking services, and/or a third-party smartphone app called ParkMobile. The township also has six kiosks operating in the Cricket Avenue Parking Garage in Ardmore and issues a select number of parking permits.

One option reviewed by Adams with added details in a staff memo to the commissioners would be to replace all existing single-meter heads with new single-space meters from a new vendor. This option would involve an initial cost of $515,000 for the township. This first option would maintain the status quo in how the parking services manage public parking throughout the township. The township would also continue to incur the cost of coin collection, including personnel costs, plus $24,000 annually for armored car services and parking meter maintenance, estimated at $12,000 annually.

A second option would be for Lower Merion to transition to using a smartphone app, such as ParkMobile, for all metered parking. This option would result in the removal of all physical parking meters and the installation of new signage. Anyone without a smartphone could text or call to pay for parking.

This second option would come with an initial estimated outlay of $39,000 to install new/additional informational signage on payment options and would also cover the cost of meter removal and post-removal restoration. Parking customers would pay the ParkMobile convenience fee or, if they use ParkMobile often, pay a flat rate or a monthly fee. ParkMobile’s current monthly flat rate is $3.99.

Another option would be a hybrid model that uses the Parkmobile Phone App along with strategically placed multi-space kiosks, which allow people who are uncomfortable with technology to have a less convenient but still easy option to pay for parking. It would also allow those using the kiosk to avoid the added convenience fee associated with using the ParkMobile App.

Multi-space kiosks would cost an estimated $10,200 per kiosk, plus $9,000 per unit per year for maintenance. If the township were to purchase ten kiosk units, it would cost $192,000 in the first year and then $90,000 per year thereafter. Parts and battery replacements would cost about $3,000 per year. These units require payment by license plate number, with cash, and electronic payment options. The number of kiosks needed is flexible, but staff would suggest that the township start with ten kiosks, primarily located in public parking lots, if this option is preferred. Kiosks make the most sense in a parking lot versus on the street, but can be used for either.

The fourth option is to allow the meters to determine their own usefulness. As meters need to be removed due to damage, age, or lack of repair parts, the township would remove them and convert the spaces to ParkMobile.

According to the staff memo to the commissioners, the township staff would like feedback from the commissioners on the options.

Also, the township staff is suggesting a gradual transition to the exclusive use of ParkMobile, phasing out the existing 1,302 public parking meters over 5 years.

“Township staff would remove approximately 260 meters (20%) per year over five years in bulk clusters in designated areas of the Township. Staff would start by removing the lowest usage groups of meters in the Township and making those areas ParkMobile only. This gradual implementation would allow Township staff to evaluate the effectiveness of the transition, minimize capital outlays for removal and restoration, and continuously assess the market as new parking meter management technologies enter into the market,” according to township documents.