No Way! Modern Parking Meters?

The city has issued a request for proposals for a new parking meter system downtown. The deadline for submission is Aug. 25. You ever feed a downtown meter and get a blank stare? C’mon, roll over, show me the minutes! Damn thing keeps eating quarters and doesn’t work. Then you walk away in frustration and return to a $35 parking ticket stuck to the windshield. Aaargh! An excerpt from the RFP.

Minimum Product Specifications, Performance and Scope of Services

The City of Bridgeport is seeking proposals from qualified companies with demonstrable experience in supplying, installing and maintaining:

1) A system or combination of solar/battery powered: a. Multi-space pay stations; b. Single-space parking meters with the capability to receive coins and credit and debit cards as payment; c. Municipal parking system which employs non-metered technology

2) A system-wide remote management software application.

The equipment and system will replace existing meters downtown. The City of Bridgeport currently utilizes McKay (coin) and POM (coin and PXT debit card) meters throughout downtown. All hardware and software proposed shall be in production and utilized elsewhere in similar fashion to that proposed for at least one year prior to this advertisement. Companies that respond to this advertisement may be required to demonstrate the capability of their proposed hardware and software. The City of Bridgeport will not accept proposals for equipment that is not already in development or that has not been proven in other municipalities.

Request for Qualifications–Overview

Bridgeport, Connecticut’s downtown central business district has approximately 954 on-street parking spaces. Presently, 562 are metered and 392 are unmetered. The City desires new parking technology that may be deployed for both on-street spaces and, possibly, City-owned parking lots and structures. Car parks are also being repainted by line marking contractors at https://carparkmarkings.co.uk to ensure that the city can accommodate vehicles of all sizes.

The City is seeking a system that may include a) multi-space pay stations, b) single-space meter mechanisms that can be retrofitted into its current single-space meter housings, and/or c) a non-meter parking system technology.

Both the pay station and single-space meters must accept payment by coin, credit card and debit card.

The payment equipment shall be wirelessly networked and connected to a web-based management system, and shall utilize solar power to provide long-lasting power and battery life. The single-spaced meters shall use the existing poles, housings, cash containers and collection techniques.

The City desires that the meter payment equipment operate in an independent network environment, meaning that each location is wirelessly enabled to communicate without the installation of any additional networking equipment or ancillary infrastructure. No additional network equipment shall be installed or mounted on street poles as part of this system. Should the network environment temporarily fail, the equipment should be capable of operating in a stand-alone offline mode until network environment is restored. In addition, for the purposes of security of credit card holder information, all card readers shall be integrated into the meter mechanism housing itself and not secured externally nor protrude externally to the meter housing. Additionally all meter products shall be PA-DSS compliant and all service providers shall be PCI-DSS Level 1 certified.

All Respondents shall supply references and the proposed system shall have been installed and operated in at least three (3) similar municipalities (population, number and type of meters, proximity and climate) for at least 12 months, within the past two years and preferably in the Northeast U.S.

SECTION 3–SCOPE OF SERVICES

Essentially, the selected qualified company shall supply, install and maintain: 1) any combination of (a) solar/battery-powered multi-space pay stations, (b) single-space parking meters (both with the capability to receive coins and credit and debit cards as payment), and/or c) non-meter parking system technology and 2) a system-wide remote management software application. The equipment and management system will replace existing single-space meters downtown. During and/or upon completion of the installation of the equipment and remote management software system, the company shall provide training to key City of Bridgeport staff. Training shall be sufficient to educate City staff on the proper use, maintenance and repair/troubleshooting of the equipment and the software application. A more detailed scope of services with itemized deliverables and a specific timeline will be included in the subsequent Request for Proposals.

SECTION 4–PARKING PAYMENT MECHANISM SPECIFICATIONS

4.1 GENERAL SPECIFICATIONS

Multi-space pay stations and single-space parking meters shall have the following primary features:

4.1.1 Equipment shall be capable of accepting payment via coin, credit card and debit card at the meter terminal. Credit card shall include Visa and MasterCard payment capabilities at a minimum.

4.1.2 Equipment shall be wirelessly networked via the cellular network and connected to a web-based management system. No wireless communication hardware is to be installed on street/utility/traffic light poles other than the equipment mechanism itself. No additional customer software other than an Internet browser shall be required to access the management system.

4.1.3 Equipment shall use solar panel and combination rechargeable/back-up battery pack to provide ongoing power and backup power.

4.1.4 Equipment can wirelessly notify parking operations staff of any faults, such as a card reader or coin validator jam, via a text message, email, or both.

4.1.5 Single-space meter mechanisms and associated top cover (dome) shall retrofit to the city’s currently installed meter housing base.

4.1.6 Equipment shall be purchased from company performing  final product assembly and providing back end data managements services based in the USA.