Font ResizeSay goodbye to the quarter-in-the-slot minimum and free nighttime parking at meters in the city of Los Angeles.
As part of an overhaul that's expected to generate an extra $18 million for a city grappling with a $400 million budget deficit, the Department of Transportation is rolling out new parking meters that take credit cards - and more of your money.
"For more people it will be seamless," said Bruce Gillman, an LADOT spokesman. "Except they will get less time for the money."
In all, the city is updating its 40,000 parking meters - with 6,000 becoming digital machines that take coins and credit and debit cards. The $18 million comes on top of the $21 million the DOT already receives from drivers dropping coins into the meters.
Some meters citywide already have been changed, and the entire project should be finished citywide in January.
The changes officially end the 25-cent hour at all of the city's parking meters in 2009, and the start of rates at a $1 minimum - or even all the way up to $4 an hour in some popular spots.
The perk of parking for free after 6 p.m. also will be history in metered spots. Motorists will pay until 8 p.m. at most meters across L.A. and even longer into the evening at top entertainment and shopping areas, Gillman said.
The City Council approved the hourly changes over the summer, marking the first time in 20 years that L.A. meter rates have been adjusted.
The plan called
Los Angeles City Councilwoman Wendy Greuel said the changes help cut down on traffic from people circling city blocks to find cheap spots.
In just one 15-block city business district, spot-seekers added 950,000 extra miles of travel a year - enough to take 38 trips around the world, according to a UCLA study.
Greuel said the changes should help free up coveted street parking spaces, a boon for shoppers, diners and business owners.
"There's a higher turnover," she said. "And for the businesses, that means more people will come into their businesses."
The electronic meter upgrades are a pilot program that launched in December 2007 at a North Hollywood parking lot.
If the technology lives up to expectations, it could replace the other 34,000 parking meters in Los Angeles. The city annually loses about $800,000 from broken meters.
The 6,000 high-tech gizmos - costing
$5.5 million - can send text messages to motorists' cell phones when they need more money in the meter. Instead of bolting from lunch to feed their meters, drivers can remotely pay them through their cell phones.
Gillman said the high-tech meters will be evaluated over the next six months.
