University of Oregon - area parking meters add debit/credit, rate increases

Eugene Parking Services just swapped out 675 old coin-only meters for new ones that accept both coins and cards.

New features though have increased parking rates from $1.00 per-hour, to $1.50 per-hour. The price hike was discussed and agreed on during the City of Eugene Budget Councils 2010 budget process.

In the mid-nineties, parking rates were $00.75 per hour. That rate rose to $1.00 per hour in 2008. Meters in the rest of Eugene remain $00.75 an hour.

Eugene City Parking Services hopes the added convenience of accepting debit and credit cars at University area meters will help save customers money by avoiding tickets.

Later this year, the city says it will allow users to sign-up for text message alerts when your meter runs out, then pay remotely up to the hourly-limit of the meter.

The goal here is we want people to be happy, to go about their day parking is not their destination, we want to make it as easy as possible for you to go enjoy the businesses in this area, school in this area, visit friends and family. We don't want parking to be the downside of your day, says Jeff Petry, Parking Services Manager for the City of Eugene.

The new meters are also solar powered and can alert Eugene Parking Services if there is a problem or if the meter needs maintenance. Meters will shut off automatically when they are not being monitored.

Eugene Parking Services says it currently has no plans to change other nearly 1,200 parking meters in the rest of Eugene. There are also no current plans to raise University parking rates.