Sustainability Problem: street parking and payment 

Finding close-by street parking can be a frustrating endeavor, and equally frustrating is that one often has to find enough quarters in the wallet, to keep track of parking time, and to return to the car to add time.

Sustainability Technology: Smart Parking Meters

• The Park Smarter App allows drivers to connect directly to a physical parking meter and pay with their smartphone.
• The App also prompts the driver when the meter is about to expire, and offers the ability to add time from the phone without needing to go back to the car.
• The App also comes with the Parking Finder tool telling drivers where inactive meters (i.e. free parking spaces) are.

Organizational Stakeholders that Will Use the Technology:

• Parking Administrator for the City
• Department of Transportation
• Individual drivers

First 3 Steps in Deploying the Technology:

1. Conduct pilots in selected areas of cities with high volume of meter traffic.
2. Collect data from the pilots: compare parking revenues before and after introduction of the technology, as it should improve city’s parking revenue; conduct surveys from drivers on the technology comparing with traditional coin-based parking meter.
3. Leveraging on success and experience learned from the pilots, branch out to other cities and areas.

Sources:

It’s about ‘time’: Parking meters are becoming smarter

App-Enabled Meters to Replace ‘the Boot’ in Delray Beach, Fla.

Comment:

“Communicating without Internet Access Using Mesh Networks“: Very handy technology to provide connectivity when traditional internet network is either unavailable or unaffordable. The company can partner up with hardware companies, such as MeshPoint (it provides relief WiFi hotspot for disasters and outdoor areas), to refine the technology and provide a holistic solution.