West Hartford News

Town Council votes to replace parking meters

By: Gregory Hyman, Staff Writer

06/03/2008

Having caused some confusion - with their dual buttons and single head per two parking spaces - the existing parking meters in West Hartford's center will soon be replaced with simpler meters, town officials said.

Town Council members passed a resolution on Tuesday, May 27, to appropriate money from the town Parking Lot Fund to purchase and install new parking meters in the center of town, along South Main Street, Farmington Avenue and LaSalle Road. Town Manager James Francis said funding for the new meters, part of a $400,000 resolution package for the meters and new lightbulbs in the Blue Back Sqaure garages, would come from parking meter and lot revenues.
The resolution was drafted after the town received numerous complaints from residents who - believing they had correctly paid to park at the center - were surprised to receive parking tickets. Some officials have said the meters' complexity could be the source of the problem. The system may be somewhat confusing to the user, said Municipal Parking Supervisor John Phillips, due to the process required to pay for a space.
The existing meters - each of which has one head - stand between two parking spaces. Before you pay for parking, you must press one of two buttons, indicating the space in which you have parked. Only then can you drop your change into the head and be on your merry way.
Phillips said patrons sometimes forget to press a button before paying. They could be, without knowing it, paying for the parking spot next to the one in which they've parked. Consequently, the town has seen an increase in disputed parking tickets.
"It's a recognized problem," Phillips said.
While other municipalities have had success with the existing meters, part of the issue in West Hartford may be that some parking spaces in the center, because of their location or design, have a single, dedicated meter - no button-pressing required. This "co-mingling" of meters confuses people, Phillips said.
The new meters will rest on the same posts as the existing meters, but will feature double heads - or one head per space - removing the need for people to press a button before they slip in their quarters. This orientation will be familiar to some residents, as the center featured this type of meter before the current meters were introduced.
At the meeting, Francis said the new meters will also have card-swipe capabilities. Once the meters are installed, patrons will be able to purchase a pre-paid card and use it to pay for parking at the center. Although officials have not yet determined how and where these cards will be available to the public, Francis said he anticipates that new meters will be much more efficient for the town to operate.