Thursday, 4:30 PM
New parking meters planned in city
By Matt Viser, GLOBE STAFF
Boston parking officials next week plan to pluck out old parking meters in a section of the Back Bay, as the city begins the first phase of a planned citywide switch to new credit card-accepting machines.
Officials plan to unveil 23 solar-powered meters on a four-block stretch of Newbury Street, where motorists will no longer feed coins into meters at 163 individual spaces. Instead, they’ll use cash or credit cards to buy time from machines that cover up to eight spots each. The machines issue tickets with time stamps that must be placed on cars’ windshields.
‘‘This is a new era in parking in Boston,’’ said Thomas J. Tinlin, the city’s transportation commissioner. ‘‘It is the biggest step since the city first purchased meters so long ago.’’
Officials hope the new system allows more cars to fit along the curb, since spaces will be no longer marked by meters. The city also is removing 33 yellow-topped meters that are reserved as loading zones for part of the day and returning the spots to parking full-time.
The new meters, which will cover the often-jammed area between Arlington and Exeter streets, are expected to make parking easier in the congested shopping district, where merchants say they fear customers sometimes stay away to avoid parking hassles.
‘‘This is going to be phenomenal,’’ said Meg Mainzer-Cohen, president of the Back Bay Association, which represents area businesses. ‘‘Let’s face it: No one carries around a pocket full of quarters anymore.’’
The machines can be used in English, Spanish, or French. They accept quarters, $1 bills, or $1 coins. Credit and debit cards with a MasterCard or Visa logo also will be accepted.
They are powered by solar panels, eliminating the need for city workers to replace batteries. The new meters also have wireless communication devices that inform transportation workers of problems, reducing the risk of out-of-order meters. The city for years has struggled with disabled meters, with several hundred of the city’s 7,300 meters broken or vandalized at any given time.
‘‘The new meters are both customer friendly and technically advanced, and I expect that they will improve the city’s parking process in the Back Bay considerably,’’ Mayor Thomas M. Menino said in a statement.
Parking rates will remain the same under the new system, with each 15 minutes costing 25 cents. Parking will remain limited to two hours. But the city will make 15 to 20 percent more money because the new system prohibits drivers from piggybacking on time left on meters.
Boston’s multi-space meters, known as the Strada BNA, were purchased from New Jersey-based Parkeon, Inc.
The new system will also take a load off the backs of city workers.
‘‘There are days when men and women in the meter unit are lugging around a hundred pounds of quarters,’’ Tinlin said. ‘‘This will minimize that.’’
The city collects about 32 million quarters a year, or about $8 million.
