You use them nearly every single day, even multiple times – not giving them a second thought unless someone crosses “the line,” and probably not realizing there’s an entire industry built around them. Anytime you leave your house you’re bound to end up in one of the 105,200,000 parking spaces in the U.S. According to the International Parking Institute, at least $26 billion of the American economy comes directly from the parking industry.The institute reports that more than one million Americans are employed within some sector of the parking profession, from parking lot attendants or valets to information management specialists. Add to that the 4 to 5 million parking meters (which have actually been around for more than 60 years) and you’ve got quite the parking “force.”
And most of us have all been tagged, or ticketed rather, by “the force” – running late, scanning and craning for a gleaming parking spot, finding the one three blocks from your destination, then digging and searching for coins that will keep parking attendants at bay … for fifteen measly minutes.
So parking can be a hassle on drivers and municipalities, as well as for employees that enforce paid parking. Freezing winter weather and hot summer’s affect the employees walking the lots, monitoring activity, issuing tickets and processing payments.
Enter the PhotoViolationMeter – don’t let the name scare you – it’s designed for the benefit of both drivers and municipalities by Photo Violation Technologies (OTCBB: NCII). (Photo Violation Technology will take over NATCO, pursuant to an executed binding Letter of Agreement to allow Photo Violation Technology the capital it needs for expansion.)
The company developed a parking meter that detects the presence of a car and fines vehicles that have not paid or have an expired time limit.
The meter “communicates” with the company’s original Photo Violation VehicleSensorPuck as well as the VehicleCameraPuck and captures a picture of the license plate of a vehicle in violation.
Photo Violation Technologies President and CEO Fred Mitschele told Market News First it’s a common misconception that the meters will put city employees out of a job. Instead, it will benefit them and add to the workforce as more employees are needed to maintain the meters, process violations and count the money coming in.
“It won’t reduce the number of employees in the work force but it will make their environment better to work in,” said Mitschele. “You can imagine workers, moving form 100 degree temperatures, walking on the sidewalk, to a nice air conditioned office sitting behind the desk.”
Additionally the company has designed The ParkCardMeter which allows for a cashless payment solution – nixing the hassle of searching for coins. The meter offers the ability to pay with prepaid cards, by phone or with credit cards. Photo Violation also offers hand-held units and wireless link software that allows management the ability to monitor and control parking lot activity from a central location.
The company recently was named “Best of Show” by the International Parking Institute at the “Expanding the Synergy of Technology” trade show in Tampa, Fla. The company released two new products at the show and was met with interest among attendees throughout the trade show.
“We had people in our booth calling other people saying ‘you’ve got to come check out this booth … you’ve got to see this new technology, you won’t believe it,'” said Mitschele. “Seeing lineups at our booth and watching people viewing our booth … was a great reward itself, but winning the award was even greater,” said Mitschele in an earlier statement.
The machines are gaining exposure through trade shows, and as cities expand the number of paid parking lots, increase the cost for parking per hour, and reduce free parking hours, the need for the meters is growing.
PhotoViolationMeters were even featured in an April 2006 CSI: Miami where the PhotoViolationMeter helped identify and capture a bank robber.
“It exposed our product globally,” said Mitschele. “I tell people what we do and they say ‘oh yeah, I saw that on CSI,'” … the product hit hundreds of millions of people with that product exposure.”
So it’s the beginning of a new age for the parking industry … and the end of talking your way out of a parking ticket.
