Soon, when you use a parking meter on Atlanta streets, an alert on your smart phone might tell you if your time is almost up.
The Atlanta City Council will vote Monday whether to hire SP Plus Municipal Services to oversee the city’s on-street parking program. The Chicago company uses smart phone apps for parking management.
The city’s current parking enforcement vendor, PARKAtlanta, has been widely accused of questionable tactics since being awarded the contract in 2009, including ticketing cars before time runs out on meters. Residents gave city officials an earful during town hall meetings last December, complaining about excessive booting, erroneous citations and high fees.
“A lot of the complaints we get is that Park Atlanta is overly aggressive,” said Colleen Kiernan, policy director for City Councilman Kwanzaa Hall, whose district covers parts of downtown and Midtown, where about 80 percent of the parking meters are located.
The contract before Council estimates SP Plus will earn about $13.5 million annually, with $7 million each year going to the city. To discourage SP from running up the tab, the city could receive up to 72 percent of any income earned above the expected $13.5 million in collections.
SP Plus would manage 2,400 metered parking spaces. The contract is for five years with two one-year extensions. The city currently has a month-to-month contract with Park Atlanta.
At a transportation committee hearing last Wednesday, City Councilwoman Felicia Moore cautioned her colleagues about moving too quickly on the legislation. She was particularly concerned that SP Plus expects to increase revenues beyond the $5.2 million PARKAtlanta earned annually while at the same time keeping the same number of meters and avoiding the aggressive ticket residents accused PARKAtlanta of practicing.
“This is an extremely important issue,” she said during the meeting. “I think we need to have all of the information upfront.”
Richard Mendoza, commissioner for the city’s department of public works, said SP Plus officials told him they could achieve the higher revenue by being more efficient.
Much like at Ponce City Market, motorists would input their license plate numbers when they park instead of a number next to the spot. They would be able to pay at the meter or through cell phone apps Whoosh! and Park Mobile, Mendoza said.
The apps will send a text message 10 minutes before time will expire, and motorists can add more time from their phone, he said. The screens on the meters will be in color to cut down on the glare and will be solar-powered for sustainability.
“We are very much encouraged by the technology enhancements,” he said.
The city also will take over the appeals process to cut down on the number of complaints that end up in Atlanta Municipal Court, Mendoza said.
The PARKAtlanta name will also go away, replaced potentially by Peach Park or Atlanta Park, Mendoza said. The city plans to hire public relations firms to get word out about the new program.
“There will be a total re-branding of our street parking program,” he said.
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