Grand Rapids parking ramps to become automated, drivers might feed meters via cell phone

Proposed changes to Grand Rapids' parking system could provide new conveniences when it comes to paying. Automated pay stations and the ability to feed the meter via cell phone are some of the option under consideration.

According to excerpts from the story:

While the actual act of placing a vehicle between two yellow lines remains the same, the business of parking is changing. As Parking Services Director Pam Ritsema recently revealed, the industry is moving fairly rapidly into a high-tech, automated mode and that move will change the way the city’s parking department will look and operate.

“We will have a somewhat different organization than we have now,” she said. By early this summer, Ritsema said she wants all the downtown ramps the city owns to have fully automated pay stations, which will reduce the number of booth attendants the department needs.

She said Parking Services has ordered eight of those stations at a cost of $240,000 and added that other undetermined infrastructure expenses will also be part of the transition. Part of that infrastructure expenditure includes video and audio connections at the stations in case a customer needs assistance.

Read the complete story here.

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