City Council moves to revamp parking operations

Parking meters across the city will be replaced with new Pay and Display technology that will increase capacity and make on-street parking more convenient by providing receipts and permitting the use of credit card payments.

The new system, approved Wednesday by City Council, is expected to increase on-street parking revenues by $1.7 million per year and will provide a minimum net benefit to the City of almost $5 million over the 10-year term of the contract with Precise ParkLink Inc., an industry leader in providing parking solutions.

The technology will improve financial reporting of revenues and will decrease downtime through the use of real time maintenance reporting. The 600 solar-powered Pay and Display machines will replace approximately 4,000 meters and will benefit the environment since approximately 40,000 batteries are currently used each year for the existing meters. The companys Pay-on-Foot machines will update existing technology in some City parking facilities.

This sophisticated technology is a leap forward and will benefit residents with fair and reliable parking operations for the City, said Mayor Larry OBrien. The process of selecting the best option for Ottawa has resulted in a good deal for the City with guaranteed revenue that will be used to continue to improve parking.

City Council approved plans to execute the Parking Operations System Agreement with Precise ParkLink Inc. in accordance with their final offer and the Request for Submissions document. Council also authorized a separate procurement for the implementation of a Pay-by-Cell component.

This is a significant milestone for the City, said Councillor Maria McRae, Chair of the Citys Transportation Committee. The agreement, and the future addition of Pay-by-Cell, promotes the interests of the City in terms of the quality and convenience of parking operations and the additional revenues that will be generated.

Six Pay and Display machines will be installed over the winter (replacing existing Pay and Display machines) to evaluate their performance during cold weather. An additional 100 machines will be installed during a test phase expected to begin in April 2010. The remainder of the machines are expected to be installed by the end of the summer in 2010.