New Energy Efficient Parking Pay Stations Begin Shipping

Digital Payment Technologies Corp. (DPT), a manufacturer of multi-space parking pay stations and online management systems, is pleased to announce that it has started shipping this month the first LUKE parking pay stations with the new RADIUS power management system. RADIUS reduces the power consumption of these electronic meters by up to 75 percent so the meters can efficiently operate with solar technology in low light conditions.

The technology demands for on-street parking operations continue to grow: multiple payment options; large colour screens; Internet connectivity for online reporting and real-time credit card processing; and integration with third-party technologies like wireless enforcement handheld devices are the new standard. The high power requirements of these technologies often require municipalities with solar powered pay stations to either sacrifice features or increase maintenance.

LUKE pay stations with the RADIUS power management system mean municipalities no longer need to sacrifice features for solar powered operations. RADIUS is more energy efficient, resulting in reduced maintenance costs and less impact on the environment. DPT has also built new capabilities into the system that enable faster transaction times, the ability to monitor humidity and temperature levels inside the pay station in real-time, and a higher resolution display.

To bring RADIUS to market, DPT undertook almost 2 years of development and over $1 million dollars in investment to review and re-design every component of the pay station. DPTs engineering team was required to focus on finding ways to reduce the overall energy consumption of the pay station itself as solar technology was not developing fast enough to create the higher power levels required to support all these features without battery changes. The product changes made include better peripheral control, improved modem communications, expanded sensor logging, and the development of a new solar regulator and new microcontroller firmware.

Field trials of the new power management system began throughout North America in October 2008 with existing clients that included the City of Milwaukee. Milwaukee currently has 175 LUKE pay stations on its downtown streets, and tested a new LUKE with RADIUS in a location between two buildings that provided the pay station with little direct sunlight. Paul Klajbor, the Citys parking operations supervisor, comments: The new pay station has been working very well with all of its regular payment options and online features. We havent had to change the battery since we got all the settings in place during the first month of set up. In addition, the new color screen has proven to be even brighter and easier to read in different lighting conditions than the existing pay stations. Milwaukee is currently performing an extended trial with the LUKE with RADIUS to determine how it performs with different configuration settings over an extended trial period. If these tests prove successful, LUKE pay stations configured with RADIUS and solar panels for battery charging will be deployed in parts of the city where AC power is not an option. The primary benefit of deploying the parking pay stations in these areas is to address on-going parker requests to have additional payment options beyond the coins accepted in the single head parking meters today.

DPT is very proud of its accomplishment with the new RADIUS power management system, states Chris Chettle, DPTs vice president, marketing and product management. The almost two-year effort of our engineering team provides significant benefits to our clients who want to utilize all of the latest technology features and still be environmentally friendly with the use of solar power in low light areas.

About Digital Payment Technologies

Digital Payment Technologies is an innovative leader in the design, manufacture, and distribution of electronic parking meters, management software, and online services for the multi-billion-dollar parking industry. The companys products provide complete financial tracking, control, and reporting on parking revenue collected by cities, municipalities, universities, parking management companies, private operators, and national parks, from customer payment through to bank deposit. In 2007, DPT was named Emerging Company of the Year by the British Columbia Technology Industry Association and placed on Deloittes Technology Fast 50 and Fast 500 lists for the second year in a row as one of the fastest growing high technology companies in Canada and North America.