The City of Eugene is installing “smart” parking meters downtown where parking has been free.
Eight years ago the city removed parking meters in the western part of downtown. The idea was to encourage redevelopment. Jeff Petry is City of Eugene Parking and Technology Manager
“The on-street parking is very valuable to the customer experience.” Petry says.
Petry says business owners support the move as a way to encourage more customers. He says they’re very advanced parking meters which take quarters, credit cards and apple-pay and google-pay.
“There’s a couple goals here. One’s to make it easier to pay. Make it easier to park.” Says Petry, “But also to meet the expectations of the tech community downtown, our international visitors and just how people are doing business nowadays.”
There will also be a smart-phone app with a map of where spots are open. Revenue from parking goes back into the downtown budget funding police, events and the downtown mural project.
