Smart cards will make scrounging for change a thing of the past.
By: Jennifer Potash
Scrounging for change to pay a parking meter or municipal garage parking fee may become a vestige of the past.
Users at the new Princeton Borough garage, slated for the former Park & Shop lot on Spring Street, will be able to use a credit card, cash, a smart card, monthly pass or magnetic-strip card at the facility, consultants told the Princeton Borough Council on Tuesday.
The parking meters in the central business distinct will be replaced with meters equipped to take the smart card.
There will be different ways of paying for garage use taking a ticket at the entrances and paying at one of three stations located in different corners of the garage or purchasing a smart card, a debit card similar to Palmer Square’s Value Pass program. Another option is monthly pass cards.
The method used to pay will also activate the exit gates so if using a ticket and paying cash, the driver must keep the ticket to insert at a reader located at the exits, said Evan Carrigan, an engineer with Timothy Haas and Associates, the borough’s garage consultant.
Patrons also will have the opportunity to use a credit card at the entrance instead of taking a ticket, and using the card again when exiting the garage, Mr. Carrigan said.
The smart cards and other monthly pass cards may be programmed to give a discount, he said. An attendant would be stationed in a nearby office to assist with problems, but there will not be a cashier at the exits.
The garage will have entrances and exits at both Spring Street and Wiggins Street. Spring Street will become a two-way street between Witherspoon and Tulane streets and remain one way between Tulane Street and Vandeventer Avenue.
Princeton Public Library patrons, who received two free hours of parking in the Park & Shop lot under an agreement between the library and the borough, will now automatically receive the benefit only for the amount of time spent in the library up to two hours.
"The library is now paying for the parking so they only want to pay for what their patrons use," Mayor Marvin Reed said.
Library users will take a ticket at the entrance of the garage, get the ticket stamped by a librarian upon entering and leaving the library, and then take the ticket to a pay station in the garage, Mr. Carrigan said. The system provides a lag time, usually about 30 minutes, for the patron to get from the pay station to the exit gates, he said. Any longer and the patron would have to pay for the extra time at the gates, he said.
During the garage design process, several residents and business owners complained that patrons would be unwilling to park on the fourth or fifth floors to run quick errands downtown.
Borough Councilwoman Wendy Benchley suggested using short-term parking meters on the basement and first levels of the garage.
Tim Haas, the borough’s consultant on the garage design and operation, said he studied that possibility but that option creates access problems during heavy use periods that could lead to the upper floors being full while the two lower levels are empty.
The borough will use signs for some of those spaces limiting parking to 30 minutes and will consider reducing the parking permit fee for residents of the new 77 apartments to encourage those residents to park on the upper floors, Mayor Reed said.
The garage parking rates will be the same as the former Park & Shop lot for the first three years of operation. After three years, the Borough Council may increase the rates by up to 30 percent.
Since the garage is expected to operate 24 hours a day, the rates can be programmed to vary by time of day, such as a lower rate after 9 p.m. when demand is lower, Mr. Haas said.
In another development, the council agreed to have its Design Review Committee present suggestions for artistic treatment of the benches, tables, tree grates and other features of the new plaza off Witherspoon Street included in the development project.
The council approved a request by Ms. Benchley for the committee, comprising borough staff, elected officials, local architects, planners and landscape experts, to develop recommendations for creative public amenities in the plaza.
"If possible it would be to our benefit to have a unique feel to the plaza and to add some Princeton personality to it," Ms. Benchley said.
The council will review the committee’s recommendations and make a decision at a future meeting. Also, the benches and other outdoor furniture must fit within the budget, the council members said.

