COLORADO SPRINGS — The Colorado Springs City Council approved a new ordinance to provide more "Smart Technology Parking Meters" in the downtown area.
With the ordinance, an additional $1.1 million will be added to the Parking Enterprise Fund to continue replacing the old meters and expand in other parts of the city.
The city says the new meters will have green stickers and be completely contactless with the new "Park Mobile" app. By using the app, people will be able to add time to the meter and get alerts fifteen minutes before their time is up.
The new meters will have progressive pricing which means it will cost more to park downtown for longer periods of time. The base rate for an hour will still be $1.25 and then $1.75 afterward. The city says this is to encourage more people to use the parking garages.
Some tell News5 that they're excited about the new meters and technology.
"Who has loose change anymore and people are hesitant about putting their cards into the machines. I think it's going to be easy for people to adjust," said Michael Ada.
The city says the new meters will have in-ground sensors that will provide important data to help them forecast the need for parking in the city. The project is expected to be done by early next year.
