Thursday, April 7, 2022
Kiosks, Smartphone App Set to Replace City Parking Meters
NEWPORT, R.I. (THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2022) – Changes are coming to Newport’s parking meter program. The City has partnered with LAZ Parking and Flowbird Group to introduce a pay-by-plate parking system, as seen in many other major metropolitan cities. The system will eliminate the City’s single space parking meters that have reached their end of life in favor of Flowbird Strada smart kiosks. The upgrade is a part of the City’s plan to enhance parking accommodations for city residents, employees, small business patrons and attendees of large scale events. Parking meter removal will begin as soon as April 11th and will be complete by the time the City’s paid parking season begins on May 1st. By implementing Flowbird’s pay-by-plate system, the City will be able to better manage parking turnover, which is critical as population grows and the City attracts more visitors. It starts with the user experience, designed to encourage compliance with parking regulations and boost parking turnover. The Strada’s 7-inch full color display guides the user step-by-step through their parking transaction, beginning with entering their license plate number and desired parking duration. Data is sent in real-time to Flowbird’s intelligent data management suite and shared with the City’s enforcement solution, ready to be integrated with other payment modes such as mobile phone payments or permits. Using the data provided by the Flowbird system, City staff can track the highest areas of use throughout the day. Complementing the new multi-space meter and pay-by-plate system is a mobile payment application powered by the Passport Operating System, allowing motorists to safely manage and pay for parking through their smartphones. With the Passport application currently available throughout Newport, parkers will get notifications of time expiring and have the ability to extend parking from the convenience of their phone. The Passport Parking app is free to download from the App Store and Google Play. Users can also manage their parking online at passportparking.com.