The City of Madison plans to reveal its first pay-by-phone parking meter payment system this year to help public parking users avoid parking chaos commonplace in Madison.

Instead of physically inserting a credit card or money into a meter or kiosk as per traditional parking meter systems, a driver whose meter is running out can simply call in to add more time to their meter. 

Manager of City Parking Utility Bill Knobeloch said this new up-and-coming feature is a product of new innovative technology.

Users will call into a specified number, give the automated voice their spot number and credit card information and pay a fee for the extra time they want, which is currently estimated at about 45 cents. There will be no need to go back to a meter in order to receive more time, Knobeloch said. 

“We have all of these capabilities available to us because of technology; why not use it”? Knobeloch said. 

Knobeloch described the city’s need for new and easy ways to pay for the meter as a result of a “declining customer base” at traditional meters. 

Although the pay-by-phone meters have not yet been introduced for use in the public, Madison already has installed and put in use a multi-space meter system.

The current multi-space meter system allows a driver to pay for their meter at various other meter kiosks instead of having to walk back to their specific meter. The multi-space meters have been implemented in downtown Madison since about 2010, and since then has received 500,000 transactions, Knobeloch said. 

Knobeloch also said 52 percent of the multi-space transactions have been by credit cards, a considerably high amount that has been growing over the years.

“Even for such a small amount of money for the meters, people would just rather pay with credit cards,” Knobeloch said. “People just don’t carry cash and change around anymore.”

According to Knobeloch, there are about 77 multi-space meters currently in place, which are the first step. He said the next step is to add the new pay-by-phone feature to these meters. 

There will be about 19 meters that will be put in for a pay-by-phone trial run on the State Street Ramp placed between Johnson and Dayton across from the downtown Madison Area Technical College.

“This metered section will be most convenient,” Knobeloch said. 

Knobeloch said the pay-by-phone system already has been implemented in some areas of the University of Wisconsin campus.

According to Gordon Graham, who works for UW Transportation Services, UW staff members are registered under the Flex program, which Graham said has been around for five years. 

Under the Flex program, employees get four hours under one charge and then pay 75 cents for any additional hour. Currently, there are about 22 lots hosting the Flex program on campus, serving about 1,800 employees. 

Ald. Scott Resnick, District 8, said the pay-by-phone method on campus could be seen as a pilot program for the university. 

“We are looking at this along with other ideas as to how they can be implemented on campus,” Resnick said. “If it works here, it can be implemented all over the city.”