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Pittsburgh's new multi-space parking meters debut next week
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The first of the Pittsburgh Parking Authority's new multi-space metering devices will be put into service next Thursday.
A ribbon-cutting will be held at 12:30 p.m. at 115 Federal St., next to PNC Park.
After that, the 12 machines, all on streets near the park, will be put into operation.
The authority bought about 560 of the devices, along with seven-year maintenance plans, for more than $7 million.
The machines represent a change in parking culture for Pittsburghers, who are accustomed to dropping quarters into single-space meters.
Five hundred of the new machines will be used to replace 3,000 on-street meters on the North Shore, Downtown, the South Side, Strip District and Oakland and to create about 500 new spaces in some of those neighborhoods. Sixty machines will be used to replace existing multi-space pay stations in Market Square, Downtown; the Schenley Plaza area of Oakland; and in metered lots city-wide.
While single-space meters accept only quarters, an aggravation to motorists, the new pay stations will accept credit cards.
Motorists will have to punch their license plate numbers into the machines, which use that information to keep track of which vehicles are paid up and which are in violation. The existing pay stations in metered lots operate differently; they require motorists to put time-stamped receipts on their windshields.
David Onorato, the authority's executive director, estimated that all 560 machines will be installed by mid September.
First Published July 19, 2012 11:48 am
