The meters can display ads and emergency notifications, collect parking data, and accept multiple kinds of payments.
BLOOMFIELD -- They don't exactly look like security cameras, billboards, or translators, but they can be all three. And, the high-tech parking meters can also accept payments and automatically ticket you if you run into the store and forget to feed them.
Bloomfield is the latest New Jersey town to test out the technologically-advanced parking meters, manufactured by the Minnesota-based company Municipal Parking Services. The Essex County township of about 50,000 people installed seven of the meters along Washington Street for a 90-day pilot. The meters, which are larger than their traditional metal counterparts, are equipped with large digital display screens, and take various methods of payment, including coins, credit cards, and cell phone payments.
The screens can display messages in multiple languages, information and emergency warnings from the township, and advertisements. "A lot of people were skeptical at first, (but) personally, I've been very pleased," said Bloomfield Parking Authority Senior Operations Manager Anne Prince.
"They are smart machines."
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So smart, she said, that they may help the township better regulate its parking meter finances. The meters track parking trends and data, she said, and alert township personnel when they are full and money needs to be removed. They also run on wifi, so don't require expensive battery changes to operate, Prince said.
And, at the top of each meter is a camera that MPS officials say is fixed on car license plates. Once you pull into a spot, you have a five-minute grace period to feed the meter. If you don't, or get back to your car more than five minutes after time expired, you can expect a ticket in the mail.
So, though Prince said the township is waiting until the end of the pilot program to crunch the numbers, if the meters are installed throughout the township, they would be poised to increase compliance with meter payment, and increase the number of tickets that are automatically doled out.
Bloomfield has about 1,200 parking meters in its downtown, some still the originals that were first installed in the 1950s, she said.
"A lot of people park and don't pay," Prince said. "We (now) have the data to back that up. ... It's a big town and we only have a finite number of (enforcement) officers."
According to Municipal Parking Services CEO Tom Hudson, the use of the meters is expanding throughout the region. Bloomfield is one of 12 New Jersey towns that have run pilot programs or are in the midst of installing the new meters, including Palisades Park, which signed on to fully replace its parking meter lot with the high-tech versions. The five-year-old company has meters in 28 cities across the country, and is expanding globally, he said.
They are attractive to cities with high-turnover metered parking zones, he said, because the meters themselves are free to the municipality. "The economics are different depending on the city," Hudson said, but the revenue collected from the meters is generally split between the municipality and MPS.
"It's a big step forward from the old parking meters we all grew up with," Hudson said.
But, residents in New Jersey who have interacted with the new meters are not so convinced. They have brought up multiple concerns about the machines, including the feasibility of the five-minute grace period, and the added video surveillance.
"I think it should have alerted me (that I was being filmed)," said Christine Adams, a Bloomfield resident who parked near one of the meters for the first time Tuesday.
She also said she found using the machines a bit confusing, and felt that they were not immediately upfront about all that they do, and how quickly you have to pay.
"If it takes me more than five minutes to figure it out, I'm going to get a ticket."
But, Prince said the cameras help municipalities collect the proper amount of money due for parking, and add an extra layer of security for residents and businesses. Footage from the meters has been used in other cities to assist in criminal investigations, she said.
Cities across the state have been implementing various new parking technologies in efforts to update New Jersey's aging parking meter stock. Montclair replaced its meters with ones that accept credit card payments, and Hoboken has embraced apps that help drivers locate available parking, and pay for it.
Whether or not Bloomfield decides to install the MPS meters all over town has yet to be determined, Prince said. But, the old, broken meters that are scattered throughout the township have got the BPA considering all of the options.
In terms of parking, "we need to evolve," she said. "What worked in the 50s, 60s, and 70s (doesn't anymore)."
Jessica Mazzola may be reached at jmazzola@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessMazzola. Find NJ.com on Facebook.