Roanoke debuts new solar powered pay stations for parking

ROANOKE (WSLS10) - Roanoke's new solar powered parking pay stations have been installed.

The new parking pay stations can be found in the Market lot, the Gainsboro Garage lot, and the Higher Education Center lot.

Users can pay for their parking spaces using coins, bills, credit cards, or by phone.

The new pay stations are part of a pilot program.

The city will evaluate the program after 90 days.

Read the full release below.

PARK Roanoke Introduces New Off-Street Meter Pilot Program

Roanoke, VA—The management of PARK Roanoke, the City of Roanoke's parking operator, has announced a new Parking Meter Pilot Program at several of its off-street downtown parking lots. New solar-powered parking pay stations have been installed at the Market Lot, the Gainsboro Garage Lot, and the Higher Education Center Lot. The pay stations accept coins, bills, and credit cards, and operate in English and Spanish. Parkers can also use their mobile phones to pay for parking at these locations.

PARK Roanoke entered into a contract with Parkeon, USA in late 2015 for the placement of these piloted meters at no cost to the City for a period of 90 days. As a pilot program, PARK Roanoke will offer various payment types to parkers during the pilot. The Market Lot will utilize a Pay by License Plate configuration, which means that parkers will enter their license plate number into the meter to pay for parking. Parkers at the Gainsboro Garage and the Roanoke Higher Education Lot will be able to pay using space meters.

All piloted locations will also offer mobile pay-by-phone applications. The system being piloted is Parkeon's Whoosh! Technology. To make payments, download the Whoosh! Mobile App from the App Store onto any iPhone, from the Goggle Play Store onto an Android device, or visit the mobile website m.whooshstore.com.

PARK Roanoke intends to gather parker feedback regarding the use of these new meters via its PARK Roanoke.com survey. At the conclusion of the 90-day pilot, this feedback will be consolidated and provided to Roanoke City Council as to the results of the pilot. Meters that have performed successfully and have provided greater levels of service and convenience to our users will be considered for purchase directly from Parkeon per the terms of their contract with PARK Roanoke.

Parkeon is a worldwide leader in mobility and technology solutions with meters in over 3,500 cities and 55 countries around the world. PARK Roanoke is operated by Lancor Parking Solutions of Atlanta, Ga. Lancor operates the City's off-street parking locations, its on-street Ambassador parking program, and maintains the PARK Roanoke business office located at 117 Church Ave. in downtown Roanoke.

Questions about the new off-street meter pilot can be addressed to the PARK Roanoke team at 540-343-0585 or parking @parkroanoke.com. Meter pilot feedback is encouraged using the survey instruments located on the PARK Roanoke website, PARK Roanoke.com.