Wilmington losing money on parking meters

Faulty coin-only parking meters cost Wilmington nearly six times more to operate than meters that accept credit cards. That is what city officials were told in a 2015 audit, yet they continue to use the meters despite possessing more efficient parking kiosks in storage. 

The coin-only meters discourage would-be shoppers and diners from spending money in the core of the city, said Wilmington Councilwoman Hanifa Shabazz. Few people carry enough loose change to park for a long outing, she said.   

“If we’re growing our downtown and our Riverfront, we don’t want (shoppers) not coming because they’re worried about having to pay a $40 (parking) ticket,” she said.   

The meters – which sit on Market Street north of Rodney Square as well as on separate downtown streets – cost the city more than $117,000 annually in maintenance and lost revenue between 2013 and 2015, according to the audit released to The News Journal in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.

Those costs primarily result from the meters breaking down due to coin jams. 

In 2013, the city purchased 200 individual “smart” meters that accept credit cards and coins and gradually installed them on Market Street south of Rodney Square. Those meters cost approximately $20,000 annually in maintenance and corresponding lost revenue, according to the audit.

Wilmington officials in 2010 purchased 16 parking kiosks, which serve multiple on-street parking spaces. To date, only four of those machines are in operation. The kiosks, which sit at the Riverfront, incur negligible repair costs, the audit stated.  

City officials employed “ineffective strategic planning” in its parking meter installations, according to the audit, and failed to effectively analyze the costs of each kind of meter. 

All coin-only meters should be replaced "with new more efficient meters," the report stated.

Wilmington generated $417,000 in revenue from parking tickets during the 2015 fiscal year, which extends from July 1, 2014, to June 30, 2015 – up from $349,000 in 2014.

City officials told The News Journal it is their goal to do away with coin-only parking meters, but noted they need first to form a "comprehensive" parking plan. Crews had installed four of the unused kiosks near Bank of America on French Street only later to remove them after the Great Oaks Charter School opened there in 2015. 

“We attempted to deploy them, the kiosks that is, in the city’s peripheral...to the main downtown," said Brian Mitchell, Wilmington's acting director of transportation. "But we didn’t get very far."

Mitchell noted officials also are examining meter-less parking systems, which incorporate a driver’s smartphone and automated license plate readers. He does not want to rush and purchase new meters that may soon be unnecessary, he said.  

“We don’t want to get caught with a dinosaur of technology,” Mitchell said.

Shabazz noted city officials discussed cell phone-linked parking systems at a city transportation summit in 2007.

Downtown shoppers or business people who need to add 10 minutes to their meters should be able to do so with their phone, she said.   

 AAA Mid-Atlantic in December also called on the city to adopt a parking system that works with a smartphone. The organization says the city should overhaul its parking operations in response to the release of the parking meter audit and a separate report about parking ticket collections.

“A well-run parking enforcement operation incorporates, wherever possible, intelligent transportation systems in parking management, including pay-by-phone applications, spot availability notifications, and, where justified, variable meter pricing," said Cathy Rossi, vice president of public and government affairs for AAA Club Alliance. “Audits clearly show multiple inefficiencies and missed opportunities."

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Nationally, many small cities continue to opt for coin-only operated meters because they prefer not to pay fees charged by credit cards companies, said Bobra Wilbanks, a saleswoman at POM Parking Meters, which sells meters that accept both coins and credit cards. She estimates there are 760,000 coin-only operated parking meters in the United States.  

“We still produce quite a few of those for cities that just cannot pay the credit card and wireless fees associated with smart meters,” she said. 

Contact Karl Baker at kbaker@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2329. Follow him on Twitter @kbaker6.