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Nov 25, 2023

Making heads or tails of Cleveland’s plan to ditch coin

Cleveland is believed to be among the last major U.S. cities to replace

Cleveland is believed to be among the last major U.S. cities to replace coin-only parking meters with ones that can also accept payments via credit card and smartphone app, similar to the technology shown here. (Getty Images)Getty Images

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Cleveland's anticipated switch from coin-operated parking meters to smart meters is expected to boost the city's parking revenues by offering more convenient payment options that don't require lugging around a bunch of quarters. But the city's revenue is expected to increase in other ways, too, with hikes in hourly fees and other parking changes, such as extended enforcement hours and pricing that can change for special events.

Cleveland's switch to smart meters, plus the other changes, could increase annual revenues by at least 33% -- roughly $340,000 beyond the $1 million collected by the current system in 2022, according to city data and conservative projections from Cleveland's "parking modernization" consultant, DESMAN.

Under Mayor Justin Bibb's plans, subject to City Council approval, Cleveland would hire Flowbird and ParkMobile LLC to provide hardware and software for roughly 600 new multi-space smart meters and 100 single-space meters, that can be paid with coins, credit cards, via app and by phone call. The new system is expected to cost just over $5 million.

To better understand the benefits of smart meters and what drivers should expect from them, cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer took a look at how similar systems have been used in other cities that made the leap years ago. As will be the case in Cleveland, increases in hourly parking rates often accompanied the installation of smart meters in many of those cities. So, it's difficult to determine what portion of revenue increases can be attributed solely to the upgraded technology.

But what's clear is that smart meters in those cities have simplified both paying for parking and enforcement, while boosting collections to cover the start-up costs and then some.

How it worked elsewhere

DESMAN's analysis, completed in 2020, predicted Cleveland could recoup its start-up costs within just two or three years -- similar to what happened in Detroit, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Indianapolis after those cities made the change.

Columbus's revenue steadily increased after it made the switch around 2009, from about $3 million in 2008 and 2009, to nearly $6 million by 2015. Those figures included a rate increase, according to a spokesman.

Detroit jumped from about $3 million in parking-meter revenue in 2015, right before its new system went online, to $4.4 million in 2016 and $5.5 million in 2017, a spokesman told cleveland.com. It's unclear if rate increases contributed to the bump.

In Pittsburgh, the returns were even greater. Coupled with rate increases and other changes, revenues went from roughly $6 million prior to the 2013 technology upgrade, to some $20 million by 2019, said David Onorato, executive director of the Public Parking Authority of Pittsburgh and past chair of the International Parking & Mobility Institute.

Parking rates going up

Cleveland's consultant likewise recommended rate increases as part of Cleveland's switch to smart meters. Bibb's spokeswoman confirmed rates here will likely be going up.

Current hourly rates in Cleveland range between 50 cents and $1, depending on location. While the 2020 study recommended increases to $1 and $1.50, Bibb's spokeswoman suggested those wouldn't necessarily be the final rates: "Because this was pre-pandemic, the proposed fees will be re-evaluated based on current needs and comps," she said in an email.

Cleveland's consultant recommended additional parking changes that would also result in drivers paying more, and Bibb will likely adopt some of those recommendations as well.

That includes extended paid parking hours and enforcement, until 9 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays downtown and in entertainment districts – another change the spokeswoman said the city would be pursuing.

The recommendations included "special event parking zones" downtown during sports games or other large events, when premium hourly rates could increase to $10 to $25 an hour. That's within the realm of possibility too, because Cleveland anticipates using a "dynamic" pricing model with the new meters that would allow rates to be adjusted based on changing demand, Bibb's spokeswoman said.

New paid parking spaces

Cleveland's consultant also called for adding roughly 1,800 new paid parking spaces, on top of the 2,800 or so paid spaces that currently exist and would transition to the new meter style.

Those new paid spaces, per the consultant's recommendations, would be added downtown, and near Shaker Square and Larchmere, Gordon Square, Tremont, MetroHealth's campus, Flats West Bank, Little Italy and University Circle, West 25th Street near Lorain, Detroit and Broadview avenues, an off-street lot in Kamm's Corners, and in the Central neighborhood along Prospect and Community College avenues.

(It also called for around 100 underused paid spaces to be made free, in various parts of downtown and along Detroit and Central avenues.)

Bibb's plans could differ from those recommendations. Cleveland has yet to determine where the new paid spaces would go, "but it is safe to assume that there will be additional paid street parking zones across the city," the spokeswoman said.

Technology upgrade

Cleveland is likely among the last major U.S. cities to abandon coin-only single-space parking meters in favor of ones that can accept credit cards or other types of payments, said Robert Ferrin, who ran Columbus’ parking system until his recent transition to Kimley-Horn, an engineering consulting firm.

Years ago, Cleveland installed 24 multi-space meters that accept credit cards for some spots downtown and in University Circle. But the vast majority of meters remain the old, coin-only style.

Most cities that haven't made the switch yet are smaller municipalities, which often struggle to afford the start-up costs associated with new equipment, Ferrin said.

Over the past two decades, newer multi-space technologies have become increasingly popular, including ones that require drivers to note the number of their parking spot and then input that number into the meter. Other versions print out a receipt, which the driver then places in their windshield as proof of payment.

Now, the latest technology – the one Cleveland is looking to use -- is known as "pay-by-plate," where drivers input their license plate number, and enforcers use handheld (or car-mounted) license plate readers to determine whether each vehicle is paid up.

Drivers will have multiple ways to pay. They can pay at the meter, with coins or credit card. They can call in their payment over the phone. Or, they can download an app that allows them to pay without stopping at a meter at all. If the app is used, drivers can add more time to their meters remotely, get warnings when meters are about to expire and save license plate numbers so they don't have to be re-typed each time the car is parked.

Onorato's agency, a decade ago, made Pittsburgh the first U.S. city to use the pay-by-plate method. Since then, it has proliferated across the U.S. Onorato said he's found few, if any, downsides -- though some drivers, who don't use the app, sometimes complain they must walk further to reach the meter, he said.

Cities have found that drivers flock to the app payment method, because it's more convenient. Drivers can sit in their car, stay out of the elements, or head directly to their destination, all while using their phone to input parking fees.

In Pittsburgh, some 65% of payments today are made through an app, Onorato said. In Columbus, mobile payments account for nearly 90% of transactions, a city spokesman said.

Lessons learned

An optimist could argue that one benefit to Cleveland holding out for so long on a meter upgrade is that it's been able to skip two generations of meter technology and the costs that would’ve come with it. For instance, Columbus last year swapped out decade-old meters that relied on 2G connectivity, after carriers did away with 2G and the machines became obsolete.

Another benefit is Cleveland's opportunity to learn from the rollout in other cities.

For instance, many cities predicted parking ticket collections would decrease because meters could be paid more easily. But that didn't end up happening in Pittsburgh, because automatic license-plate readers help enforcers do their job more efficiently, Onorato said.

In Columbus, ticket revenue initially jumped by about $1 million, and then held somewhat steady, hovering between $5.9 million and $6.7 million between 2010 to 2015.

Asked if they could share other lessons from their cities, Ferrin and Onorato both stressed the importance of City Hall proactively teaching the public about the upcoming changes and what drivers can expect.

Onorato said the public also needs to have confidence in what he called the "integrity" of the system -- that drivers can trust they won't get a ticket when they pay for a spot. In that category, Pittsburgh found it needed to tweak its software to correct for common issues. Now, the technology can automatically detect and correct when a driver has accidentally transposed two letters or numbers in their license plate number or has forgotten to type in the last digit.

The system also voids tickets if it's clear a driver was in the process of paying but didn't quite make it to the meter before an automatic license-plate reader flagged the car as unpaid.

Many cities moving to a new system also offer a "grace period" on tickets in the first few days or weeks, so people can adjust to the new technology. But now that the pandemic has made smartphone app-payments more commonplace, compared to user habits a decade ago, Onorato and Ferrin suspect Cleveland's system will be more accepted from the start.

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