City of Bloomington experiences parking meter woes

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (WISH) – Nearly $2 million dollars, that’s how much the city of Bloomington spent on new parking meters back in 2013.

However, city leaders said that money may not have been well spent, and added that nearly every single one of the meters have malfunctioned in some way.

“Today, I encountered a meter where the credit card machine didn’t work on it, so that was a pain.” store manager, Matt Wanker said.

“Always the talk of small businesses in Bloomington, some business decrease when they put the meters up and it’s always something your customers minds, how much time they put on the meter and what not.” Wanker added.

“I was really surprised. I knew there were problems with some, I had no idea there were problems with many.” one resident said.

The mayor’s office said when they first started tracking the meters there was average of 277 problems a month, a failure rate of 18 percent.

Jes Franco, who works in downtown Bloomington, said she has just about given up on driving to and parking at work. She now rides her bike or walks.

“I always see people ready to give you tickets,but I don’t see a lot of maintenance happening.” Franco said.

The city said they bought the meters from a San Diego-based company back in 2013, most of which have been sent back to the maker.

“I think it’s a great show of strong character and humility to show that there is a problem.” resident Dan Herron said.

City leaders said that the number of problems have dropped since they started sending the meters back to the company to be replaced or repaired.

They’ve also recouped $45,000 from the company to cover staff time and other costs.