Merchants can sell these to customers, but most provide them to customers free of charge as an incentive to shop downtown. Parking tokens with a face value of $1.25 – the cost to park in a downtown or University Hill spot for an hour – are sold to merchants for just $1. One municipality which has taken part in such a program for years is the City of Boulder, CO. Municipalities can purchase tokens and then re-sell them to downtown merchants who provide them to customers as an incentive to shop downtown. Partnering with downtown merchant associations, business districts, and other groups helps to promote downtown as a viable place for shopping, eating and recreation and entertainment. While safety and ergonomics are certainly viable reasons for selecting token-based programs, perhaps the biggest advantage that tokens offer is as a tool for downtown merchants. Keeping vandals away from parking meters can prolong their service life and save the municipality from replacing them prematurely. In addition, because meters contain tokens rather than cash (or perhaps in addition to cash) then vandals find them a much less viable target.
That same employee handling collections for a token-based system, however, is not at risk, because the tokens have no cash value – and hence are of no interest to robbers and thieves. That is because during parking meter collections, workers typically carry hundreds of dollars worth of change – making them an attractive target for thieves.
Parking tokens are safer than cash-based parking systems because municipal employees are not at risk during collections. While safety and ergonomics are clearly leading reasons why municipalities prefer tokens, partnering with central business districts and merchant groups can provide a real, tangible reason for people to visit downtown – free parking! And getting people to head downtown rather than to the suburban mall is clearly “top of mind” for municipalities across the country. Among them are safety, ergonomics, and the opportunity to participate in promotional opportunities with downtown merchants. While cash-based parking meters are the standard in the industry, token-based systems can offer significant advantages.
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