Revenue Authority Replacing Parking Meters

If you're parking in Towson, you now have one less reason to carry around loose change.

The Baltimore County Revenue Authority is now about halfway through a project to replace aging coin meters with new meters that take credit cards.

The new solar-powered meters cost the authority $495 each and will be installed where it is less than economical to put a multi-space parking slip dispenser, which costs $9,200. You can find the new meters along many Towson streets, including Allegheny, Pennsylvania and Susquehanna avenues.

"I kind of like the way they look," said Wayne Mixdorf, the authority's parking director.

Ninety-six of the meters were installed beginning in late April, with 100 more set to be replaced in the coming months. Eventually, Mixdorf said, as the county's meters need to be replaced, the revenue authority will replace them with the new models. But cost is a factor, so Towson is getting them ahead of other parts of the county.

"It is the busiest of our parking districts, so it typically gets the equipment replaced first," he said.

The new meters still take coins, in addition to Visa, Mastercard and Discover cards. The rates, at $1 per hour, are unchanged. Using credit requires a $1 minimum, just like parking in a lot with a dispenser.

There's just one problem with the new meters, Mixdorf jokes.

"Unfortunately it doesn't increase the number of parking spaces," he said. "I wish that was the case."