June 23, 2021 ~ The Royal Oak City Commission voted to install 800 new smart parking meters which will issue tickets when the meter runs out. Additionally, the fine attached to the tickets will double from $10 to $20.
“We don’t want to issue anyone tickets,” Police Chief Corrigan O’Donohue said to 760 WJR’s Kevin Dietz. “We just need parking to be available to the customers and visitors to Royal Oak.”
The meters come as part of a five-year contract with Minneapolis-based Municipal Parking Services.
June 23, 2021 ~ Royal Oak Police Chief Corrigan O\’Donohue tells Kevin Dietz about their soon-to-be-installed new parking meters, which will automatically issue a ticket whenever someone\’s time runs out.
The meters are outfitted with license plate recognition cameras and sensors. Users will be able to pay using coins or credit cards at the meter as normal, or use the Municipal Parking Services app to pay and add additional time. Users can also locate open parking spots using the MPS app.
O’Donohue said the system will not work with $10 tickets, as half of the fees are to cover maintenance of the meters. He also stated the national average fine for parking violations is $30, and this will be the first parking fine increase in over 10 years.
“It’s for ease of use for the end user and overall fairness for everyone,” said O’Donohue. “We want to make sure parking is convenient, accessible, and functional, and we think we can do that with MPS.”
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