Seen In New York: Solar Powered Parking Meters
by Celine Ruben-Salama, New York, NY on 11.20.06
Being an extremely occasional driver, it took me a while to discover the ubiquitous multi-space, pay-and-display parking meters that grace the sidewalks of New York. The so called "Muni-Meters" caught my eye because on top of each is an angled solar panel. With over 2,000 machines throughout the city the main reason for choosing a renewable energy sources was cost. By virtue of having their own power source laying underground power mains was avoided close to halving the overall installation cost for the machines.
The parking meters don't need direct sunlight. They are designed to operate with ambient light only recharging an internal Sealed Lead Acid battery capable of powering the meter completely. Designed from scratch with solar power in mind, many of the efficient and durable internal components were specifically designed for the meters. Parkeon, the company that manufactures the meters was awarded ISO 9001 certification in 1994.
With approximately 110,000 parking spaces, New York City is the largest operator of street parking facilities in the US. The city pioneered the use of pay and display in the Country, having first installed such machines over 12 years ago. Currently the city is evaluating credit card payments in 200 machines in Manhattan's theater district. :: Parkeon
I've seen these for years, virtually everywhere. Maybe you should get out more.
We have these all over Toronto as well. (The exact same ones, from the look of it.)
They've been in Seattle for a few years now, but with a slightly different look.
1994 isn't exactly new news.
Also, pay and display parking doesn't work for everyone. I drive a convertible and putting the top up just to protect my temporary parking permit is a pain.
Ye, we've had these in Dublin (Ireland) for years and years too ... glad to see from the comments that they're not that new on your side of the pond either, something so simple being novel would be worrying.
They have these in Milton Keynes in the UK.
Not all of us live in big cities. This is news to me too.
Not all of us live in big cities. This is news to me too.
Pay it no mind. It's just JIlted trolling for attention, as usual.
Have these in Montreal, but ours are Pay-and-Go, no need to put the ticket on display.
As irfon-kim said, they are all over toronto and they are terrific. you don't need change because they take credit cards; you can pack more cars in because they are not tying you down to a meter; you get a receipt which is great when you have to expense costs for business; and I drive a convertible too, but separate the receipt half from the ticket so that if anyone steals it I have proof and can fight the ticket.
What was the problem with older modles? The kind that didn't require electricity?
Had these in the mid-wext for a good 10 years now... they're about as exotic as the solar garden lights at Home Depot. The 1994 should have clued you in that they are old news.
We've had them in Perth, Western Australia for years as well. All of our roadside emergency phones are solar powered too, and the odd park has solar lights.
The solar panel leads one to think they are environmentally friendly, but the true power source is the environmentally unfriendly lead acid battery that is being charged by the solar panel. Other manufacturers are using Green Cell batteries which are turly friendly to the environment but cannot be recharged so no solar panel and an immediate perception that the unit with the solar panel is better for the environment. Morale of the story: look under the covers.
We have these in Washington DC too but not city wide yet. They are great for people like me who never have coins to feed a meter. It also improved the walking space on the sidewalk. I hope they expand it to more locations.
The problem with older models is that they can only hold so much coinage, and they jam easily. This means megabucks in lost revenue for cities as well as megabucks to monitor and fix them. These new meters automatically alert the city when there's a problem and they need maintenance.
I am looking for manufacturers of these Solar Parking meters. Would like to be a distributor for them in all the African nations starting with Nigeria, South Africa and Ghana