MEMPHIS, TN (abc24.com) - After years of talk, Memphis is moving forward with modernizing its outdated parking meters. The hope is it will bring in more money and make it easier to park on the street.
Memphis is now taking bids from companies to modernize the on street parking system. Truth is, it's long overdue.
Drive around Memphis and you'll find broken meters, missing meters and cars parked where they're not supposed to. Downtown drivers know it's a problem.
Instead of the old 1950's style meters that just take coins, Memphis plans to have meters installed that take coins and credit cards. The city wants to replace and install 1,200 high tech meters.
Paul Morris with the Downtown Memphis Commission is glad the city is finally moving forward.
"We have been frustrated over the last couple years," he said. "I hadn't heard anything in a long time, didn't know if they were moving forward or doing nothing."
Truth is even those at city hall didn't know the status of the parking meter modernization. Just last week a spokesperson for the mayor's office told ABC 24 is was a dead issue.
At this point no one from city hall has any hard numbers on how much it will cost to put in new meters or how much extra revenue it will bring.
Morris says truth is, "It's not a cash cow, it's to make parking more convenient."
Companies have until the end of August to bid on switching out all the meters. Truth is, with as slow as it takes to get anything done at city hall you probably need to keep a few quarters in your pocket for a while.
