someone has to do is insert it into a parking meter. Each insertion accounts for one quarter’s worth of time. At some meters, one quarter is worth 15 minutes, while at others it’s worth 30 minutes, city staff said.
The cards will work 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If someone accidentally inserts a card on a Sunday when parking at meters is free, a charge will automatically be debited from the card’s account.
“It’s just like if someone accidentally places a quarter in a meter on a Sunday,” said Carlos Collard, a transportation management analyst within City Hall’s planning and community development department.
City Hall spent $1.8 million to replace the city’s 6,600 parking meters with new ones that include a slot where the thin, plastic cards can be inserted, said Lucy Dyke, transportation planning manager for City Hall. The process took about a year and a half to complete.
Santa Monicards were first issued in limited numbers in March during a testing phase, during which city staff learned that the meters will not display the full amount of the cards.
“The meters can only display up to $99.99, so if you have more than $100 on your card, the meter will not tell you that,” Collard said. “That’s just because of the size of the meter display.”
City Hall sold 325 cards during the trial run for a total of $28,000, Collard said. Six cards were reloaded with money, with the average reloading being $50.
Collard expects those numbers to increase now that the program is in full swing. Advertising for the cards will begin shortly to increase awareness of the program.
“We’re not ready yet to go forward with our marketing campaign because we are still gathering information about who is using the cards, where are they using them most and where could we possibly sell them in the future, such as convenience stores. That’s been discussed,” Collard said.
The cards are available at City Hall’s parking office, 429 Santa Monica Blvd., room 350.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 12, 2006. Read the original PDF.