Windsor residents may notice some changes to parking operations in the city if a report receives council approval.
Last week, the Environment, Transportation and Public Safety Standing Committee was presented with and approved a report which would see metered parking move strictly to online app payments, rather than card or cash options.
The committee approved the immediate discontinuation of cash payments at all metered street parking, and for handheld and mobile Licence Plate Recognition (LPR) Technology to be implemented for by-law officers to know when the parking time is expired.
In 2023, total revenue from metered parking was just over $2.1-million, with $1.2-million from cash deposits, $560,000 coming from app payments, and $320,000 from credit or debit from parking lots.
The city says implementing an app-only payment system for street parking will encourage users to transition to digital payments, reducing the need for physical cash.
By switching to app payment only, administration estimates $600,000 in revenue due to fee increases, increased time of enforcement at meters by the hour due to new LPR readers, Sunday enforcement, among other changes.
Ward 3 councillor, Renaldo Agostino, asked administration to look into options to modernize parking operations in January 2024.
He says the city will ensure everyone is prepared for the change, if approved.
"I know that there's some work in play to make sure that there's a process here where we ease into it, rather then just jump in head first. So I think that'll come up at council for sure."
Agostino says this would bring in more revenue for the city so residents don't have to pay more in property taxes.
"This is not something that we're starting to do that is so innovative that no one else has done it before. You go to any other city, this is happening. And for us, to me, the big thing is I just want to make sure that we're not leaving anything on the table when it comes to potential revenue for our city because behind the doors I see we desperately need it."
He says this change would provide the city some flexibility.
"There's opportunity to bring more people downtown. It's not just about increasing prices, remember it's also about decreasing prices. So, times of the day, or days of the week, where we feel we can use a little economic impact, we could lower the prices by using an app, we can have a retailer, or a sponsor, buy a street and send that out and say 'hey, today, parking at University Avenue is free'."
The report will go to council for final approval at the June 10 meeting. If approved, implementation will start within a month.
The cost to switch to app payments only is just shy of $145,000, which will be funded through the On-Off Street Parking Reserve Fund.
News releases and social media tutorials would be issued to inform the public about the upcoming changes, emphasizing the benefits of the modernized system.
Cash and card users would be directed to use parking lots and garages.
Existing meter heads will remain in place as parking space number identifiers, but will eventually be removed and replaced with new signage indicating the parking spots and app number.