parking meter
Two of more than 300 "smart" parking meters in Easton.
(Rudy Miller | Lehighvalleylive.com)
Easton isn't getting rid of its parking meters, but it is getting rid of the need to run outside to feed them.
City council last week approved a five-year contract with MobileNOW!, a company that enables drivers to pay their parking meters with their cellphones.
When your meter is about to run out of time, you'll get a text message warning you to add more. For the convenience, you pay 25 cents per transaction.
Easton Police Lieutenant Matthew Lohenitz speaks at a Feb. 11, 2015, press conference to discuss the city's parking ticket program.
"A lot of people are looking forward to them," said Easton police Lt. Matthew Lohenitz, who runs the police department's traffic division.
He said the service is revenue neutral to the city.
"The city doesn't make any money on this," he said. "It's just a convenience we offer to the public."
Lohenitz hopes to have the system running by late May.
Bethlehem has had MobileNOW! since 2012 and Easton has had the benefit of learning about its pros and cons through the Christmas City.
For instance, paying by phone directly to the meter can drain the meters' batteries. Batteries that were slated to last 18 months lasted about three instead, Lohenitz said.
Having the meters on standby awaiting a payment is akin to "a phone being on a phone call for three hours," he said.
Lohenitz advocates logging the cellphone payments through the management software that governs the meters rather than through the meters themselves. Parking enforcement officers check the software before issuing any tickets, Lohenitz said.
Logging the payments through the software might confuse people who don't see the payment register on the meters, but it will save battery life in the long run.
"You lose a few of those batteries and it adds up," Lohenitz said. "They're $30 each."
No final decision has been made on how the payments will be logged.
The city has 1,200 meters. More than 300 are "smart" meters that allow payment through credit cards. You'll be able to pay the old meters with MobileNOW! through use of the software, Lohenitz said.
The city ordered 25 new smart meters and hopes to add 200 more in the near future, Lohentiz said. They'll replace the old meters.
The city has now empowered its parking authority to hear appeals of parking tickets. Lohenitz said the publicity around the controversy hasn't generated many appeals.
"We have a handful in the queue waiting for the appeal board to get set up and running. I would say its somewhere around 10," he said.
PARKING RULES
Parking costs a dollar an hour in Easton.
Meters are enforced from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from noon to 6 p.m. on Sundays. Some meters have limits, such as a two-hour time limit.
Fines vary for parking violations. For a first offense, the ticket is $15 if it's paid within 24 hours.
Source: Easton police Lt. Matthew Lohenitz
Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@express-times.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook.