KINGSTON – Motorists using parking meters in the City of Kingston may now charge the fees on their credit cards. They may still use coins, but with the use of a new smartphone app, “Whoosh!” if their pockets are empty, they may place the new $1 per hour fee on their plastic. There is a 35-cent per transaction charge that goes to Whoosh!
Mayor Steven Noble, who pushed for the new system, said it is designed to make parking in the city more convenient. Using the smartphone app also allows motorists to move from meter to meter with their unused time and if their time is running out, the app will notify them.
Parking meter fines have traditionally been a significant source of revenue for cities, but Noble said Kingston’s budget is relying less on those fines and would like more visitors to the city because of the more convenient means of paying for meters.
“Having a visitor to Kingston get a $25 ticket for getting a cup of coffee never makes someone happy, and so if we can make it more convenient and we give out less of those, there are other ways in our budget to be able to find revenue to help provide the services that we do,” the mayor said. “We hope that by reducing the number of tickets we are giving out, it will encourage more and more business development.”
On Monday, June 12, meters in the Rondout/Lower Broadway area will be increased to $1. Midtown and Uptown meters will follow. Full city-wide implementation of all 400 should happen by the end of the month. Each updated meter will accept the Whoosh! app.
