The City of Tampa said Tuesday its purchase of 146 new parking meters designed by a Burnaby firm will likely increase city revenue by up to 20%, or $250,000 per year.
Digital Payment Technologies’ multi-space meters, which are branded as LUKE pay stations, are replacing 1,000 of the city’s 1,425 existing single-space legacy meters in Tampa.
Jim Corbett, parking division manager for the City of Tampa, said in a release that in addition to boosting city revenue, the solar-powered LUKE stations will make meter collection operations more efficient.
Rather than having to manually collect coins each day, parking officials can generate electronic reports to view pay station activity.
Florida has been one of DPT’s key markets. The cities of Miami and Fort Lauderdale are using DPT’s pay stations as well.
Two weeks ago, DPT launched license plate-enabled meters that allow drivers to punch in their license plate in meter to register a parking spot.
With such meters, parking attendants can use mobile license-plate scanners during their rounds.
“There are a lot of new technologies being applied in the parking meter industry,” said Alan Menezes, DPT’s vice-president of product management and marketing.
That fact, coupled with the fact many municipalities still use legacy, single-space, coin-fed meters, has resulted in big opportunities for companies like DPT.
Menezes said Europe, where most of DPT’s competitiors are based, is further ahead than North America in adopting advanced parking meters.
He added that by adjusting parking rates and coordinating or synchronizing rates of multiple meters, parking officials can encourage drivers to park in lots rather than streets.
“What we’re seeing is how you can use pay stations to enforce parking policy,” said Menezes.