Parking on credit gets a look from city
FOURTH STREET A side-swipe in a parking garage may not be such a bad thing, that is, if you’re paying for parking using a major credit card.
In an attempt to give visitors another payment option to keep traffic moving, city officials are looking into installing machines in the downtown parking structures that will accept credit card payments.
No longer will drivers have to fumble through their wallets and purses looking for exact change, or skimp on a snack out of fear of not having enough cash to get their cars out of the garage.
“That has happened to me a couple of times, when you think you have enough cash but you don’t,” said Mary Ann Hereford as she pulled a cart full of oranges from the Farmers’ Market on Arizona Avenue. “Once when I was in Beverly Hills, I only had a few dollars. I know I had to save cash for parking instead of the muffin I wanted.”
The idea has been floating around City Hall for years, with downtown business interests actively pushing for installation as soon as possible to help with traffic flow and cut down on the number of robberies in the structures, where parking attendants have been assaulted and had their cash boxes stolen.
At a recent meeting of the Bayside District Corp., a public-private management company that helps City Hall run downtown, board members continued to express their desire for the technology as well as pay-on-foot machines that allow people to park, walk up to a machine and pay for their spot using a credit or debit card, or cash.
City transportation officials also believe it would be a “great idea” to incorporate credit card payments because they would help alleviate congestion in the structures and surroundings streets that are affected.
The big hold-up has been cost, said Lucy Dyke, transportation manager for City Hall.
“We have a pretty decent estimate that this could cost the city as much as $150,000 a year in processing fees and that’s a significant amount of money that could be used for something else,” Dyke said. “I think when finance and (the information services division) get through a competitive bidding process, it could be substantially less than that. We are in the process of finding that out.”
In addition to getting the right price, City Hall would have to choose which credit card company to go with and which form of transaction to choose — live authorization or batch processing. Live authorization clears the transaction immediately, cutting down on fraud, while batch transactions are cleared after a certain amount of time, like at the end of the business day, said Bill Bortfeld, parking operations manager for City Hall.
City Hall already accepts credit cards for certain transaction, and there is the question of whether credit card processing at the parking structures would be handled by the same company that works now works with City Hall, Bortfeld said.
Reactions to the possibility of paying with plastic were mixed. Some drivers felt it is a good idea and would speed up the time it takes to exit the structures on weekends and evenings when use is high.
Those who are skeptical feel technology could backfire, creating longer lines in the event of a short-circuit.
Keki Gandhi, a Santa Monica resident of 38 years, believes credit card processing is a good thing for those like him who do not like to carry much cash on them.Still,he wondered how customers would sign a receipt without a parking attendant present.
“Would the machine just spit out a receipt for you to sign?” Gandhi asked.“A prepaid parking card would be easier.”
City Hall already offers motorists a prepaid option. Those interested can pick up debit cards from the city’s parking office and put money on it and use it just like a credit card at the parking gates at most structures, Bortfeld said.
As for parking meters, City Hall offers a debit card as well. Jessica Garcia, who was in Santa Monica on Wednesday having lunch with friends, said she thought City Hall should spend the public’s money elsewhere because credit card machines would just be too complicated.
“It’s really something insignificant they shouldn’t waste their money on,”Garcia said.“Usually, it’s pretty fast (getting out of the structures.) It’s just finding a parking spot that’s the problem.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 5, 2007. Read the original PDF.