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New Card & Coin Meters Net Nearly a Quarter Million in One Month
Photo by Zach Behrens/LAist
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Photo by Zach Behrens/LAist
Looks like Angelenos will be seeing more of those Card & Coin meters in Los Angeles. City officials announced this morning that the approximately 10,000 recently installed meters netted $230,000 in September. That's a huge boost from expectations, they said, which would probably generate $83,000 to $125,000 a month (that translates to $1 million to $1.5 million).
“Since we installed the first of these new meters in May, they immediately began earning their keep in the City of Los Angeles,” said Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
Los Angeles has approximately 40,000 meters, but the 10,000 card and coin ones are generating 50% of the city's parking revenue. [Added: many of the older meters are broken, allowing vehicles to park for free.]
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The meters are supposed to be in working condition 99% of the time. That other 1% of the time should, in theory, automatically and wirelessly notify headquarters to send out a repair person. If the meter is found to be broken and won't accept both card and coin, the city's new policy sends you to find a new parking spot or face a ticket.
Villaraigosa is also touting the environmentally-friendly aspect of the new meters, including the fact that L.A. now has the most solar-powered meters in the country. The old-school meters use AA batteries, meaning frequent replacement and more hazardous waste (remember, it is illegal for you to throw household batteries into the regular trash).
Villaraigosa called it a "win-win," Considering the revenue, that's for sure.
For the Record: An earlier version of this post indicated that when paying by credit card, you cannot increase or decrease payment by a nickel's worth of time. That appears to be wrong, though, it seems that some meters in our experience don't have this option.]
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