Thursday, May 5, 2005 | 9:55 a.m.
Drivers looking for parking around the yet to open Regional Justice Center in downtown Las Vegas won't have to search for change to fill the parking meters this summer, so long as they have a credit card.
As many as 150 metered parking spaces around the new court building will still take coins, but the meters will also take credit cards, and potential parkers will also be able to set up special accounts accessible by telephone to pay for parking there.
The Las Vegas City Council on Wednesday voted 7-0 to spend $63,710 for 15 of the new meters that can take credit or debit cards, and come from the Australian company Reino Parking Systems, which also has offices in California. The meters are designed so that one can handle payments for up to 10 spaces. They resemble an ATM although they are shorter and smaller.
City Detention and Enforcement Department Lt. Karen Coyne said the new meters will be given a test run around the new justice center. The meters will probably be installed in July and should be running by mid-August, she said.
The meters will be placed along Third Street between Bridger and Bonneville avenues; on Bonneville between Third and Casino Center Boulevard; and on Clark Avenue between Third and Fourth streets, she said.
"It's the newest, it's the greatest, and it's the latest," Coyne said, adding that "the public wants to be able to use their credit card or debit card" at a parking meter.
Coyne said customers who choose to have special accounts for the new meters will be able to receive alerts on their phones letting them know when their time is about to run out. Then they could use their phones to put more money into the meter, she said.
The cost of parking at the new meters will be the same as at the existing meters, which is $1 an hour, she said.
City Councilman Michael Mack said the new meters sound like a good idea.
"This is just a smart thing to do because how many times do you get to a meter and find out you have no change?" Mack asked.
For about five years, the city has offered special parking meter keys that work like debit cards. Users can add money to the keys, which fit into a hole next to the change slot on the meters, instead of coins.
The city has issued 1,100 of those special keys, which can be used on the city's roughly 2,500 parking meters. Most of the meters are around downtown.
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