Fast-growing Vancouver parking meter maker Digital Payment Technologies (DPT) announced an agreement Monday with San Francisco-based Streetline Inc. that DPT’s CEO Andrew Scott believes could fuel further growth for his company.
DPT designs parking meters, outsources their manufacture and assembles them in a Burnaby facility. About 95% of its $23 million in 2010 sales were exports to the U.S. In 2008, DPT generated less than $12 million.
Streetline’s technology uses sensors placed in roads to determine whether parking spots are occupied. The plan is to synchronize that information with data from DPT’s parking meters to:
- alert drivers to nearby empty parking spots;
- alert enforcement officers to nearby spots that are occupied but not paid for; and
- reduce congestion because drivers are not driving around seeking parking.
“There are no streetline sensors in Vancouver,” Scott told Business in Vancouver.
Streetline has sensors in Los Angeles and Sausalito. DPT has 1,000 on-street parking meters in Houston and thousands more in other U.S. cities.
Thus far, DPT’s only meters in Vancouver are on private lots managed by either Imperial Parking Canada Corp., Diamond Parking or other operators.
Within the next month, Scott plans to launch a trial in an as-yet-unnamed city in New York State.
That trial will involve the integration of Streetline and DPT technologies.
Eventually, drivers will be able to use their car’s GPS or an iPhone app to find nearby available parking spots. They will then walk to the DPT meter and pay for parking.
The City of Vancouver is involved in a trial with DPT competitor IPS Group Parking and Telecommunications.
“The city is looking at trials and has not awarded a contract to anybody at this time,” Scott said. “That’s in the city’s hands. We would certainly want to be on the streets. We’re pleased to be in White Rock [on streets] now.”