This change won't leave you fumbling for quarters

Boston started installing solar-powered parking meters that accept credit cards in 2006. This one is on Newbury Street. (David L. Ryan/Globe Staff/File 2006)

The days of stockpiling quarters for parking may be coming to an end for Back Bay residents and visitors.

The Boston Transportation Department has spent $630,000 for 63 new "pay and display" parking meters - larger, centralized boxes - to regulate short-term parking.

The meters - purchased from Parkeon, an international company with offices in Moorestown, N.J. - are solar-powered and regulate up to eight spaces, like the meters installed two years ago on Newbury Street from Arlington to Exeter streets.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino praised the use of meters as a way to reduce costs and facilitate parking.

"These meters are a good example of a city department striving to be more resourceful," Menino said in a statement. "The technology is up-to-date, yet the installation has been accomplished in-house, and our own staff has been trained to maintain them."

Drivers can either pay with quarters, dollar bills, MasterCard, or Visa credit cards, and then stick the receipt inside the vehicle's curbside window.

Workers recently installed 32 of the meters, which were ready for use yesterday along Newbury Street from Exeter Street to Massachusetts Avenue, and on Hereford, Gloucester, and Fairfield streets from Newbury to Boylston streets.

Employees will install another 27 meters over the next few weeks throughout the area. The installation of the remaining four meters will be postponed because of Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority construction.

The Boston Transportation Department also plans to begin replacing the city's 13-year-old parking meters this month with another 9,500 new models.

Meg Mainzer-Cohen, the Back Bay Association executive director, said the new meters are convenient for shoppers and visitors.

"This program has been a huge success on Newbury Street, and we are thrilled it will be expanded to more of the Back Bay shopping district," she said.

"The new meters are so user-friendly; visitors will no longer have to carry a pocket full of quarters."