**** HRM Media Release
New parking pay station sign installation beginning August 3
On Monday, August 3 municipal staff will begin removing on-street parking meters and replacing them with paid parking signage in Downtown Dartmouth as part of the Parking Technology Solutions Project.
This is the first step in the Parking Technology implementation plan as new digital Pay Stations will also be installed in the coming weeks. The pay stations are a pay-by-plate, pay-by-zone system, and it introduces more payment options such as credit card, debit card, smart pay by phone (Apple & Google Pay) as well as coin payment and the HotSpot mobile app. Payment is attached to the vehicle, not the parking space. Vehicles can move freely within the parking zone up to the time purchase or maximum time allowed.
Until all Pay Stations and parking zone signage have been installed across the municipality, areas where meters have been removed will become temporarily unrestricted parking until the project is complete. We ask that residents help local businesses by respecting a two-hour time limit in these unrestricted areas. Once the project is complete, residents will be given ample notice before the system is activated. It is anticipated that all pay stations will be installed by early fall 2020.
Please note that under the provincial Motor Vehicle Act, vehicles cannot be parked on public streets for more than 24 hours.
What about people who have mobility issues or are elderly? Having to walk to some pay station will be difficult and discourage them from going downtown. It will be awful in the wet weather and dangerous in the ice and snow.
That’s one reason the app is such a good idea. You can get a refund on time not used, you will get a warning when time is about to expire, you can top up the time from anywhere and you don’t have to stand in the rain, so for lots of reasons it’s so much better than parking meters. Also it saves us taxable costs of meters and maintenance. It’s really easy, even for the elderly (of which I am one). Sure, some may not yet have cell phones, but in that case just one quick explanation of the hands on process at the pay station should do it. In these modern times, I think we have to give people credit for an ability to understand.