Payment options expand for parking lot operators

Digital Payment Technologies Corp. (DPT) is ramping up its enterprise management services (EMS) system and electronic parking meters that give cities and parking lot operators the ticket to greater revenue and decreased operational costs. The Vancouver-based firm uses wireless technology to both link consumers to the payment mechanism as well give operators access to real-time parking information. In addition to the overall software management system, DPT offers two types of meters. Dubbed Shelby, this meter is aimed at municipalities with bylaws officers patrolling multi-space street parking, and the other, operating under the Lucas moniker, is designed for off-street parking lot operators. The company already has systems operating in White Rock BC, Edmonton and Fredericton as well as Houston and West Hollywood with plans to rollout the parking solution in Riverside CA in the near future. The system provides a wide range of information such as transaction records and maintenance updates, but it also presents cities and parking lot operators with the ability to generate more revenue without having to either extend paid parking times or increase the number of vehicles in a lot. While older, single head parking meters allowed people to take advantage of unexpired time left by the previous person, DPT turns this around by enabling lot operators and cities to more readily charge for the same spot twice. "Our multi-space meters increase revenues by 25-35% without increasing hours of operation," Andrew Scott, DPT CEO, said during a presentation at the Canadian Innovation Exchange's venture capital pitch fest last month. Unlike traditional meters, where excess paid time is easily transferred to the next person, "the public drives away with the excess time" allowing operators are to "double-dip", with some spaces being paid for twice. In late 2007 the City of Fredericton became the first DPT client to deploy its on-street multi-space parking system by integrating parking enforcement officers' handheld devices with the system. As a result, bylaws officials now have real-time access to expired tags and can target those vehicles, without having to spend time looking on dashboards for expired tickets. While similar solutions have emerged across Canada, Scott says their systems are different for consumers in two key ways; they can operate in the old-fashion cash manner, but customers can add additional time remotely through their cell phone, without having to wait for their meter to expire. "Some of our competitors have systems that don't allow these types of payments," says Scott. "You can pay for additional time but you wipe out your payments if the time hasn't expired. There's no incentive to pay earlier." There's a near immediate positive impact on parking lot operators as maintenance costs can be reduced dramatically, according to Scott. "Service is done on an as-required basis, as opposed to scheduled bases, dropping these costs by 20%," he says. The units are self-reporting and alert the main server when battery power or receipt paper is low, and when experiencing technical problems. DPT's units typically retail in the $8,000 to $15,000 range and this is a manageable cost with the return on investment the system provides. Edmonton's Expert Parking experienced a 20% gain in revenue while not having to increase prices. But unit sales aren't the key revenue driver, it's recurring revenue, says Scott. Operators pay varying monthly fees for the online services, depending on the number of stations and services running. The City of Fredericton, for example, purchased 14 Lucas units in 2007 for approximately $266,000 and the annual charge is about $20,000. As of this month, DPT has sold over 4,000 payment stations to operators throughout North America, with 90% of their sales being generated in the US. The parking market south of the border with its estimated US$20-billion value, is critical for the company. Since 2000, DPT has averaged annual revenue growth of 29% and last year the 60-person outfit posted income of $14 million.

Payment options expand for parking lot operators

News | 05/14/2008 12:38 pm EDT

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