Pay-by-plate parking machines have arrived in downtown Burlington
The new pay-by-plate parking machines have arrived in downtown Burlington and will be replacing 300 individual parking meters from the streets. Precise Parklink Inc. in Toronto has supplied them. The machines will be installed in public parking lots, on public streets and the 414 Locust St garage.
Features of the new pay-by-plate parking machines include:
- Multiple forms of payment including coin ($2, $1, $0.25), credit or online
- The ability to park at various locations throughout the downtown with a single payment
- The option to add time to a parking purchase remotely using www.telepark.com
- No need for dashboard tickets. Every payment is linked with a license plate number. There is still the option to print a receipt.
The new machines were funded by a parking levy, paid for by downtown businesses, as well as parking fees and fines.
My Take: The new machines will ultimately make parking easier for customers – among other things, there’s no need to carry bags of coins to pay, or rush out in the middle of dinner or getting your hair done to top up an expired meter. I understand there are some growing pains and adjustments to learning the new system, but I hope you’ll agree that it is an improvement over the coin machines.
June 5, 2016 @ 8:16 pm
I refuse to pay for parking. I will continue to park in free parking areas, no matter how many pay spots you put up. Regardless of walk the walk, my parking will only inconvenience downtown residents and never grace the pay for parking areas, so just stop trying..
June 1, 2016 @ 5:09 pm
ITS HARD FOR SENIORS TO READ THE DISPLAY SCREEN WHICH IS BELOW EYE LEVEL AND BLURRED BY SUNLIGHT ETC. IT SLOWS PEOPLE DOWN AND i HAVE HAD TO JOIN TWO OR THREE OTHERS WAITING AS A RESULT.
June 1, 2016 @ 3:03 pm
I will stick with my bag of coins! I just have to pay $1.75 for 30min stop. I do not like this system. It took too long and cost $1.25 more than it should of.
Be aware that it is a $1.75 min charge when not using coins.
The store I went to had 3 pages of people who where not pleased with the system. The store also was getting fed up with downtown!
June 1, 2016 @ 8:33 am
I have used these a few times already – they are great. However, when you pay at the machine your ticket or receipt comes out and it says clearly on it to “display face up on dashboard”. I don’t think you need to do this? This shouldn’t be on the ticket as it causes confusion. Most people I saw were putting it on their dashboards (as did I) and wondering why we need to.
May 26, 2016 @ 7:39 pm
This is another sizable investment in car culture. Can we at least transform all those now “orphan” parking meters into places to chain up your bike as done in bike friendly cities?
May 26, 2016 @ 10:28 pm
As far as I know, the plan is to convert about 30 of the old parking meter posts to bike racks (the post and ring style, seen all over Toronto). Hopefully soon!
May 27, 2016 @ 8:58 am
Yes, most of the posts will be converted to bike racks. They are being installed already.
May 26, 2016 @ 10:32 am
Parking should be free for Burlington residents. We already pay high property taxes. These “fees” should cover things like parking and transit. These machines are essentially computers and all link back to a central location where the license plates of Burlington residents could be plugged in.
May 9, 2016 @ 11:49 pm
i wonder if anyone has actually looked at the web site for Telepark? aside from it looking like it was designed in 1999 and apart from a mobile formatted landing page any registration or other usage from your mobile phone has to take place through the desktop format website. No app!?! It’s 2016! So very disappointed in the current incarnation. I hope updates are due soon
May 3, 2016 @ 9:43 am
So can you pay by phone parking? For those people in wheelchairs that cannot reach machines?
May 27, 2016 @ 9:09 am
Yes, you can pay using your phone, by visiting the Telepark.ca website You need to create an account first with your credit card information, then you can pay.
May 2, 2016 @ 3:59 pm
very cool!!!