CITYWIDE — The days of worrying about whether you have enough change to feed the meter are over.
City Hall has released a new debit card to pay for parking around town. The “Santa Monicard” costs $2, with the option of adding $10, $50 or $100. Each card can hold as much as $120, and can be used at nearly any parking meter in the city. The exceptions are meters that serve multiple parking spaces and meters at the new Main Library. These will be changed over soon, according to city staff. “(The City Council) has been discussing for years the need to better handle parking and to help those people who just don’t seem to have a quarter in their pockets when they need it,” said City Councilman Kevin McKeown, who does not have a Santa Monicard because he drives a hybrid vehicle, which are allowed to park at meters for free. “People complained that we showed no mercy, we showed no quarter. Now you don’t need one.”
Santa Monicards work much like a gift card. A user purchases a card and adds a desired amount of money to it. To use the card, all
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 12, 2006. Read the original PDF.