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SEATTLE PAY STATION PARKING PROGRAM
Project Statement
Seattle takes on-street parking management into the 21st century! Since the 1950s,
parking meters have been a fixture on Seattle streets to help manage parking in
business districts. In 2004, the City began to replace aging traditional parking meters
with parking pay stations—payment kiosks that offer parking payment convenience,
service reliability, and better predictability for drivers. Local businesses profit from
greater customer access, and the City has gained improved parking management
capabilities and increased revenues.
Problem Statement
Paid parking strongly influences travel mode choice. It helps allocate a limited resource
by increasing vehicle turnover, improving access to area businesses, and easing
parking enforcement.
The City manages its on-street parking supply to give priority to customers and other
short-term visitors (generally two hours or less) to area businesses. The cost of onstreet parking and time limits are both key tools used to steer employees and others
needing longer-term parking into off-street lots and garages. To be effective at
preserving spaces for business customers, the cumulative cost to park for eight to ten
hours on-street should approach (or exceed) all day off-street parking costs.
In 2003, the City was faced with the need to develop a replacement strategy for its
aging 9,000 traditional parking meters. Parts were no longer available for 4,500
mechanical meters, and they also could not accommodate a rate change. The $1.00 per
hour on-street parking rate had not been increased for over 10 years. In 1993, an
attempted rate increase with electronic meters had to be rolled back because customers
revolted over the need to carry large amounts of coins.
Business Solution
In response to the need to retire outdated meters and increase on-street parking rates,
the City decided to replace existing parking meters with pay stations to improve parking
management capabilities. As part of the program, hourly parking rates would be
increased from $1.00 per hour to $1.50 per hour, representing an inflation-adjusted rate.
In April 2004, the City began a three-year program to replace traditional meters with
parking pay stations. By 2006, up to 1,600 pay stations will operate in place of almost
all of the City’s 9,000 meters. In addition 1,800 free parking spaces will also be
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converted from free to paid parking in growing business districts to better manage
increasing parking demands.
Operational Description
Pay stations are kiosks that are centrally located on a block to control multiple
parking spaces. Customers simply “park, pay and display”.
At the pay station, customers may pay by credit card, debit card, smart card or coins.
Chinese and Spanish instructions are available on the electronic display screen. When
a customer receives their self adhesive receipt, they are required to adhere it to the
driver’s side window as evidence of payment. This also provides business people the
ability to expense their parking costs.
Signs at the ends of each block indicate the need to pay for parking and point toward
the pay station. Parking spaces are grouped in the middle of the block to minimize
walking distances to the kiosk. Load zones are relocated to the block ends to make it
easier for trucks to park and to minimize double-parking.
Seattle’s is the first permanent installation in North America of solar-powered pay
stations supporting real-time credit card transactions. Wireless communications send
encrypted and encoded financial data directly to financial institutions for authorization
while the customer is at the kiosk.
The system also sends status alarms to City staff. These allow for just-in-time revenue
collections and maintenance, eliminating out-of-service times. In its first year of
operation, the pay station system had two million successful payment transactions,
including one million credit/debit card transactions.
Costs
The City is investing $10.3 million in capital funds to install the pay station system. The
City will recoup its investment in less than five years. Because revenue collections and
maintenance needs are reduced and services can be performed on a just-in-time basis,
operating and maintenance costs are projected to decrease by up to 20 percent over
time.
Program Benefits
Parking customers, local businesses and the City all benefit from the pay station
system. Customers frequently cite the benefits of pay stations as being able to pay by
credit card (in lieu of having a pocket full of change) and the ability to use unexpired
receipt time at another paid parking space – whether controlled by a pay station or a
meter. Unlike traditional meters, pay stations do not accept payment after hours or on
Sundays and holidays. This prevents customers from paying when it is not required.
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Additionally, parking receipts may be used to document business expenses or to
dispute citations.
The pay-and-display system makes it difficult to illegally “feed” the meter. This results in
fewer vehicles being parked on street for more than two hours. With increased parking
turnover, a greater number of customers can access local businesses.
The pay station program afforded the City an opportunity to standardize the
organization of parking layouts on block faces. By grouping paid spaces in the middle
of the block and locating load zones to the ends of the block, parking is more
predictable and understandable for customers, visitors and delivery people, and can
reduce double parking by delivery trucks. Additionally, removal of conventional meters
enhances the streetscape by reducing sign and meter-post clutter. More sidewalk space
can be freed for pedestrian uses.
The pay station system eliminates bad debt charges (as high as 4% in other cities)
associated with credit cards because of the real-time authorization procedures. Data
security is increased and the City’s liability is eliminated by the real-time wireless
transactions, as sensitive financial information is not stored on the City’s computer
system.
A web-based information management system allows City staff to monitor the system’s
status and performance and provides valuable data which is utilized to make to parking
management decisions. With traditional parking meters, this data is unavailable.
Another benefit to the City is that parking revenues have dramatically increased—by
more than 40 percent. This is the combined result of the rate increase and the new
variety of payment options. Complaints about the rate increase have been almost nonexistent. People are more readily able to comply with payment requirements by being
able to use credit and debit cards.
Summary
With increased development density, local governments are finding that they must
better manage on-street parking to support thriving business districts. As parking
demands increase, on-street paid parking becomes an effective tool to manage a
limited resource. Seattle’s parking pay station program is a cost-efficient model that
benefits customers, businesses and the City.
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