City of Rochester addresses parking meter problems, councilmember calls for audit

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — Some of you may have experienced issues with City of Rochester parking meters, from them not taking credit cards, to inaccurate receipts or no receipts at all, or inoperable units.

In response to this, Councilmember Mitch Gruber is calling for a citywide audit, while the City says they’re working on a plan.

When you go to park in the city of Rochester, you’ll see one of two kinds of parking meters:

The five-year-old “POM” or “lollipop” models, or the 13-year-old “Cale” models. Those are the ones that look like black towers. The new models take coin, card, and an app called “Passport Parking” which is free to download for smartphone users.

Sarah Nowack is the interim director of parking in the City, and says these Cale models are “nearing the end of life.”

“The Evans administration is looking to replace those to provide a better experience,” she said.

She adds says the city of Rochester is working on a plan that will be underway with the year, but wasn’t able to offer a time-frame on when the work would start. In the meantime, she says:

“We make sure they are working every day and we have the parking mechanics who are out there every day,” she said. Nowack adds however that they only have a handful of mechanics working each day.

Councilmember Mitch Gruber says there are issues with all the models — not just the Cale —
and is calling for all new meters to be the same in the future.

“It would be better if we had one kind of unit that everyone could get conditioned to utilize that was clear and intuitive,” he said.

Nowack says it’s a tentative plan to have all the parking meters be the same. Gruber raised this issue in a city council meeting earlier this month, but adds it’s been on his radar for about six months.

He went into detail on his audit proposal with News 8 this week:

“We need to do a comprehensive audit of every single meter we have in Rochester, understand what is working and what it isn’t working, reinvest infrastructure, fix it all, quickly, and give recourse for people who are trying to pay and are unable to,” he said.

While this is listed on the newer “lollipop” models but not the older ones, Nowack says to call 311 if there’s an issue.

While Gruber suggests the recourse could be using a dedicated app or site where people can upload photos or videos.

Nowack says that if you do a get ticket because you tried to pay and were unable to, there will be information on the ticket on how to schedule a hearing, or you can pvb@cityofrochester.com.

​ ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — Some of you may have experienced issues with City of Rochester parking meters, from them not taking credit cards, to inaccurate receipts or no receipts at all, or inoperable units.

In response to this, Councilmember Mitch Gruber is calling for a citywide audit, while the City says they’re working on a plan.

When you go to park in the city of Rochester, you’ll see one of two kinds of parking meters:

The five-year-old “POM” or “lollipop” models, or the 13-year-old “Cale” models. Those are the ones that look like black towers. The new models take coin, card, and an app called “Passport Parking” which is free to download for smartphone users.

Sarah Nowack is the interim director of parking in the City, and says these Cale models are “nearing the end of life.”

“The Evans administration is looking to replace those to provide a better experience,” she said.

She adds says the city of Rochester is working on a plan that will be underway with the year, but wasn’t able to offer a time-frame on when the work would start. In the meantime, she says:

“We make sure they are working every day and we have the parking mechanics who are out there every day,” she said. Nowack adds however that they only have a handful of mechanics working each day.

Councilmember Mitch Gruber says there are issues with all the models — not just the Cale —and is calling for all new meters to be the same in the future.

“It would be better if we had one kind of unit that everyone could get conditioned to utilize that was clear and intuitive,” he said.

Nowack says it’s a tentative plan to have all the parking meters be the same. Gruber raised this issue in a city council meeting earlier this month, but adds it’s been on his radar for about six months.

He went into detail on his audit proposal with News 8 this week:

“We need to do a comprehensive audit of every single meter we have in Rochester, understand what is working and what it isn’t working, reinvest infrastructure, fix it all, quickly, and give recourse for people who are trying to pay and are unable to,” he said.

While this is listed on the newer “lollipop” models but not the older ones, Nowack says to call 311 if there’s an issue.

While Gruber suggests the recourse could be using a dedicated app or site where people can upload photos or videos.

Nowack says that if you do a get ticket because you tried to pay and were unable to, there will be information on the ticket on how to schedule a hearing, or you can pvb@cityofrochester.com. Read More RochesterRochesterFirst