LOS ANGELES (KNX) - It’s a quintessential Los Angeles experience: jogging a half-mile down the street, quarters jangling in your pocket, to feed the parking meter before it expires.
But it won’t be that way for long. A new generation of parking meters that allow mobile payments are coming to L.A.
Colin Sweeney, a spokesperson for the L.A. Department of Transportation, told KNX News that about a third of the city’s 36,000 parking meters have already been converted to “smart meters.”
The first batch were installed in areas with the highest parking demand, like Hollywood and Venice. They can also be found at 41 of the 110 parking facilities managed by LADOT.
The mobile payment app allows you to reload the parking meter from your phone if you’re running out of time. The new meters also feature “flexible pricing,” which increases or decreases depending on the amount of parking demand — so you may see higher prices in busy areas, Sweeney said.
The rest of the city’s old meters are expected to be replaced with smart meters by the end of 2024.
In the meantime, Sweeney answered a few common questions about the old-style meters: if a meter is broken and won’t accept card or coin payment, you can park there without expecting a ticket.
However, if the screen is scratched or too dark to read, but the light on the front is still blinking red or green, you will get a ticket if you park there without paying.
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