Keep your spare change for the laundromat.
Last week, UNM began replacing coin-operated parking meters with machines that exclusively accept credit cards. The machines will operate for an area of about 15-20 spaces, as opposed to one coin meter on each space, said Robert Nelson, associate director of Parking and Transportation Services. He said that PATS explored various forms of meter technology before deciding which meters to install.
“These are cost-effective, efficient, and we think good for the customer,” he said. “Customers would carry around coffee mugs full of quarters. They don’t have to do that now anymore.”
PATS plans to wire the meters in the near future to accept
LoboCash. For right now, credit and debit cards are the only accepted payment forms.
The pay-and-display machines are solar powered, web-based and wireless, meaning they can be moved to different locations if needed and are self sufficient as far as power goes, Nelson said. Whenever a card is swiped, the information is immediately sent to a computer database, the meter machine, and the customer’s bank statement.
The new meters allow drivers to move their cars to different spaces around campus so long as they keep their receipts on the dashboards of their cars, Nelson said.
“The space is not restricted by time anymore,” he said. “So you could buy eight hours of time if you wanted to, whereas before with the meters, you couldn’t put enough quarters in to buy that much time.
