The Future of Parking Meters

I remember the day when you could put nickels and dimes in a parking meter. I remember a day when you could get an hour for a quarter in most neighborhoods in Chicago. I remember a day when you could get all your parking needs for under a dollar. Those days are now gone.

Now we live in a day where you almost need a debit card to pay for your parking meter. Here in Chicago, the way it works now is that you get about 7.5 minutes for a quarter downtown, and 15 minutes outside of downtown. Some places in downtown Chicago actually charge $3.50 for an hour. I remember there was a spot where you could get a quarter for a half hour on Columbus Drive but the meter would last for up to four hours. That was a prime tourist spot given Buckingham Fountain, Grant Park, Millenium Park and the general downtown scene and lakefront.

People in 2009 normally don't carry a lot of spare change, so they may pay with debit or credit cards. You follow this computerized screen and it prints out a receipt that you place in your dashboard. I believe this was created for you not to share the meter with future parking attendees. Now every car has its own individual receipt that is used for them. What people don't think about doing is waiting for a future car and handing the receipt to the next person for them to use. It's a good way to share money from a meter.

I have a problem with this method of using plastic to pay for parking. I don't mind so much for a parking lot, but just for regular street parking I think it's a little absurd. Unfortunately, it's the present. I see the future of parking meters a little differently. I think what we could do is have is computerized parking spots. The same way that you can get stamps online and pay for them, I think the same process could work for parking spots. Here's how I think the process would work:

1) You go to a website.

2) You indicate where you want to park.

3) The computer lets you know when the spot is available.

4) It lets you know of spots that will become available within your allotted timeframe.

5) You choose the spot you want to take at what time you want to take it.

6) You let the website know how long you want to park for.

7) You get 2 minutes to confirm the spot.

8) Print your receipt and take with you to the parking spot.

9) You turn off the computer and head toward your spot and park.

10) You pray that you don't get there late or that you go to another location.

I do understand that this idea has many flaws, but I see parking meters going this way. The same way that we can purchase everything else online, we will be able to purchase parking time. In time we may even be able to lease parking spots, rent parking spots, or dare I say... buy pockets of parking like you would vacation homes or single-family homes. It would come complete with a deed, taxes, closing statements and everything.

Couldn't you imagine owning a spot with parking meter? No? The problem with that is that parking meters wouldn't be for the general public anymore, unless the city set aside certain spots for general public parking; although that could be reserved for the city parking lots. Until then, all general public parking spots would remain general public parking spots.

How far could parking meters actually go? Maybe there is a keycard swipe like you do at grocery stores, just for parking meters... or even similar to how the I-Pass works on the highway. Here's how I see this working:

1) Order a keycard for parking meters for your city.

2) Put money on your keycard through authorized stores or on a website.

3) Go to a parking spot of your choice.

4) Swipe the keycard at the parking spot to indicate every hour (or half-hour, or quarter-hour) you want to spend at that spot.

5) Put the original time receipt inside the car.

6) Parking meter creates a duplicate receipt to take with you.

7) Within 10 minutes you get a text message indicating your meter is running out of time.

8) You can then go to the website and add more time, or proceed to your car.

These are just a couple of ways I see this evolution of parking meters taking place. Wherever it goes, I will always remember the days where you just put a quarter inside the meter, twist the knob, and the tangible meter says you have a half hour remaining.