On Tuesday, May 1st, Bloomfield Township will begin a 90-day trial period of parking pay stations in the heart of Downtown, a move that is expected to save time and money for Township parking enforcers. The Council voted unanimously Monday to enter into agreements for parking meter equipment and services with the IPS Group, Inc. and Parkeon Inc., a Moorestown, NJ based international company that owns and operates state-of-the-art parking pay stations. The companies use pay-by-plate technology to keep parking authorities aware of the time remaining on all operating machines.
“The Township Council and I began efforts last year to modernize our outdated parking enforcement system by dissolving the Bloomfield Parking Authority to consolidate services. This pay-by-plate technology that is used in Hoboken and other nearby cities has proven to save time and resource, which in turn save taxpayers’ dollars,” said Mayor Michael Venezia. “We entered into a 90-day trial to assess whether or not this technology will have the same positive effects in Bloomfield, before deciding whether or not to adopt this system on a permanent basis throughout the town.”
The parking technology will be tested in four locations over the 90-day trial period: Glenwood Ave. alongside Avalon; Washington St. alongside Avalon; the Municipal Parking Lot on Bloomfield Ave.; and the Conger St. Parking Lot. The first two locations will use equipment supplied by Parkeon, and the latter two stations will use equipment supplied by the IPS Group. Machines at all four locations will accept cash and card payments, at a rate of 25 cents per 15 minutes. The Parkeon machines are partially power by solar energy, and can be remote controlled from a central office. Tutorial videos for Parkeon and IPS can be found online.
As part of the agreement, Bloomfield will establish three 15 minutes free spots on Lackawanna Place near Washington Street and three 15 minutes free parking spots on Glenwood Avenue near Lackawanna Place. Parkeon systems are in place in over 3,500 cities in 55 countries. This system has proven to increase township revenue by 20% – 30%, using technology to keep metermaids aware of the time left on every meter, remotely. The IPS Group uses a fully integrated smart product suite comprised of single-space meters, multi-space pay stations, pay station upgrade kits, and management software with advanced data analytics.
