The village of Mamaroneck will inch toward implementing a pilot program that aims to help both village officials and residents determine how patrons of Mamaroneck Avenue pay for their parking in the future.
According to the village’s capital projects consultant Mary Shiffer, the test—which will start being rolled out in approximately two to three weeks—aims to install 18 single-space meters from three different companies and also two multispace meters from one company.
After installation, Shiffer said, the village will compile data from the different vendors and the different style of meters and judge their effectiveness based on reliability, cost-to-benefit ratio and user feedback. The pilot program, she added, will last no more than 90 days.
Single-space meters—which have been the most popular option among residents—will be equipped with sensors that allow the meter to detect when a car pulls away from a spot and will then reset the time accordingly, Shiffer said. This would allow the village to gain more revenue by increasing the amount of turnover.
“There’s a little bit of extra revenue when you can’t piggyback off of someone else’s time,” she said.
Both the single-space and multispace meters will accept coins and credit cards.
Currently Mamaroneck Avenue uses antiquated coin-operated meters that have, after years of neglect, created the impetus for the village to modernize its parking payment system.
Though the village Board of Trustees voted to purchase $115,000 worth of multi-space meters in 2015, the meters were eventually deployed in parking lots as opposed to Mamaroneck Avenue, following concerns over the meters’ need for license plate-reading technology.
As it stands, the village will look at meters from three different vendors—IPS, Calle and Civic Smart—according to Village Manager Richard Slingerland. The meters are currently out to bid.
While there are currently two multispace meters installed on the avenue that are being used to pay for parking in lots that run behind the downtown area, these meters aren’t currently a part of the pilot program, according to Trustee Leon Potok, a Democrat.
Shiffer explained that once the pilot program is kicked off, however, those meters will be programed for spaces on the avenue and included in the pilot.
According to village resident Maria Derose, chairwoman of the village Ad Hoc Parking Committee, while the multispace meters have only been installed on the avenue since January, residents have already experienced some issues using them.
“The meter in front of Hunter parking lot has jammed at least three times,” Derose said. “These are the things we were trying to avoid.”
Derose said she has been notified by residents multiple times that jammed multispace meters have caused problems on Mamaroneck Avenue.
While Derose and others on the village Ad Hoc Parking Committee have voiced their support of the installation of single-space meters on the avenue, Derose explained those meters also come with their own set of obstacles.
Because the single-space meters would utilize sensor technology that would detect if a car leaves its spot, Derose said the installation of additional poles on the avenue may be necessary to make sure that the sensors are aligned directly with the corresponding spot.
Since the sensors would cost the village more money than single-space meters without them, Shiffer said that the village will also be scrutinizing what positive effect those meters have, if any.
“Since there’s an added cost, we have to see if it’s worth paying for,” she said.
