Don’t pay the parking meters for the next two weeks in this central Pennsylvania municipality
CARLISLE, Pa. (WHTM) — The eventual point is to collect parking money more efficiently, but for two weeks — while this borough rips out 630 old meters and installs 56 new kiosks — parkers are going to like the side effect of all that:
Free parking in the borough’s central metered zone, recognizable by the silver-colored meters.
(Older gold meters, which sell up to eight hours of parking at a time — rather than two — in less central areas, are unaffected by the change and still must be properly fed.)
Most people parking Monday didn’t seem to know about the exemption and were glad when told by abc27 News just before parting with their quarters. Ken Mixell, parking to get a haircut a Raudabaugh’s Barber Shop, was happy to save the money Monday and said he might take advantage of the free downtown parking a few more times while it lasts.
Troy Raudabaugh’s take?
“About time the borough gives you something free, right?” Raudabaugh said, laughing. (He’s been waiting awhile: Raudabaugh has worked for 43 years in the barber shop his dad started in the same location 69 years ago.)
Richard Juday, the borough’s director of finance, conceded some people might not like walking a half-block to a kiosk rather than a few steps to an old meter but said the borough considered replacing all the meters, and the math was too compelling: Better to maintain 56 solar-powered kiosks than 630 meters.
The parking rates themselves won’t change for now: still 75 cents per hour. There is, however, a new 35-cent fee to pay using the borough’s new “Flowbird” parking app or to pay or extend parking via SMS/text message. (You can download the Flowbird apple for iPhone or Android now to be ready.) But there’s no fee at the kiosks, and some parkers could save a little money with something else that’s new: Once you pay for parking anywhere within the metered zone, you’re covered at any space within the zone — the parking is linked to your license plate, not the specific space.
The current “old” meters — which accept credit card payments — actually aren’t that old: They date only to 2019, but Juday said their expected useful life was five years, and, well… here we are.
And for now, to be enjoyed while it lasts, that free parking in the borough. You have to know about it — the old meters won’t actually stop you from feeding them if you insist. But Juday said don’t worry: You won’t get an expired-meter ticket in the metered zone (again, that’s the zone with the silver meters) until at least May 27. You do still have to observe other parking rules, such as not parking in no-parking zones.
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