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16 good reasons to use personal parking meters - according to Donal Shoup, professor of Urban Planning at UCLA - extracted from Smart Parking on Campus
1. No need for cash - drivers don't need coins, tokens or exact change when parking because the in-vehicle meters operate like debit cards
2. Accurate payments for parking - drivers pay for the exact parking time they use - no more, no less. Drivers don't pay for any leftover time they don't use
3. No meter anxiety - drivers don't need to guess how long they will want to park and don't need to return to their cars by a specific time
4. Safety - where personal safety is an issue, drivers feel more secure because they pay for parking while still inside their cars. Drivers are also protected from bad weather while paying for parking
5. Receipt for parking fees - the electronic memory of the in-vehicle meter can provide receipts for parking fees to use for expense accounts or tax purposes
6. Mobility - the same in-vehicle meter can be used all over the city/campus
7. Faster turnover - in-vehicle meters encourage faster parking turnover because drivers pay for parking by the minute. Drivers don't use up excess time simply because they have already paid for it
8. Low cost - the in-vehicle meters reduce the need to buy, install and maintain conventional post-mounted meters, and the need to collect, transfer and count coins
9. Revenue in advance - the parking body collects the parking revenue in advance and earns interest on the unused balances
10. Adjustable prices - in-vehicle meters can charge different rates in different areas, at different times of the day and days of the week, and for different parking durations
11. Compatibility with conventional meters - drivers can use their in-vehicle meters to pay for parking at conventional meters. Cash customers who don't have in-vehicle meters can pay by putting coins in the conventional meters
12. No theft of vandalism - users activate the meter by inserting a smart card when they key in the zone where they park and remove the smart card before leaving the car. The debit for parking is deducted from the card when the driver inserts it in the meter for the next use. No-one has any incentive to steal the meter because it has no monetary content and it cannot be activated without the smart card that stores the monetary value. In-vehicle meters also eliminate the risk of vandalism that is commonly directed at conventional meters
13. Ease of enforcement - the parking zone code flashes in the LCD window of a meter that is running and the enforcement personnel can easily see whether a car is paying for parking
14. Fewer parking violations - drivers with in-vehicle meters usually pay for parking rather risk getting a ticket. If the expected cost of illegal parking (the fine multiplied by the probability of citation) exceeds the price of legal parking, people pay for parking to save themselves money
15. Statistical analysis - the times parked in each zone are stored in the smart card's memory and can be retrieved for statistical analysis when value is added to the cards. Anyone who is concerned about keeping this information private can always pay cash or buy a new smart card rather than add value to an old one
16. Better urban design - for on-street campus parking, the in-vehicle technology saves valuable space on the sidewalk and removes unsightly meter clutter
These advantages come at low cost both to drivers and to the university. For example - the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee charges a one time deposit of $25 per in-vehicle meter which is refunded when a user leaves the program. The University of Massachusetts-Amgerst offers the meters without charge, but requires a $50 replacement fee if the meters are not returned. The main disadvantage of the in-vehicle meters seems to be that most people have never heard of them.
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CAMPUS
You are the University parking manager, responsible all the car parks, with budgets to keep, customers to keep happy and deadlines to meet. Ganis personal parking meters can provide you with the solution that you have been looking for. If you are interested in looking into the latest technology available, please contact Ganis to discuss your needs and for an in-depth presentation.
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