City unveils prepaid parking meter cards
By Ernie Garcia
The Journal News • June 1, 2008
YONKERS - The Yonkers Parking Authority has introduced a prepaid card that allows motorists to feed street parking meters without hunting for quarters.
The $25 plastic Smartcard, which is embedded with a microchip, is on sale at the parking authority's office at 9 Buena Vista Ave. The disposable card will work with 300 meters in downtown streets while the authority tests the device. The city plans to modify all parking meters to accept the Smartcard in the future.
"Who has seven quarters in their pocket?" said Michael Dalton, executive director of the Yonkers Parking Authority, explaining the need for a Smartcard.
For now, the meters that accept the credit-card size Smartcard are on Main Street, the Yonkers Pier, Buena Vista Avenue, Dock Street and Nepperhan Street. The trial period will last all year, and the parking authority will sell the $25 card for $20 during that time.
Yonkers isn't the only city that uses a prepaid card or other device to feed a parking meter. White Plains has a Cash Key that motorists can plug into a meter to make a payment, and New York City uses a prepaid Muni-Meter card that allow motorists to purchase blocks of parking time on the street or in municipal parking lots.
Other municipalities that use parking card technologies include Philadelphia; Princeton, N.J.; and Arlington, Va.
On Wednesday, a reporter from The Journal News tested the Smartcard in downtown parking meters, and the card worked with all those chosen randomly.
White Plains resident Teresa Ingrasciotta approved of the card after a reporter demonstrated how it worked as she parked her car by the Yonkers Post Office.
"That's fantastic," said Ingrasciotta, who was about to present a nutrition program at the Yonkers Public Library. "It would be great if you could use it in all the other towns in Westchester."
Ingrasciotta was not familiar with the Yonkers Parking Authority's Smartcard, but has used White Plain's Cash Key in the past. She said she gave up on the Cash Key because she was dissatisfied with it.
White Plains' Department of Traffic Commissioner Albert T. Moroni said he was not aware of problems with the Cash Key.
Reach Ernie Garcia at elgarcia@lohud.com or 914-696-8290.
