New York Goes Digital with Parking Meters
The mechanical parking meter is no longer in New York City. The last clock-like meter was carted away from a Coney Island street corner Wednesday. There were once 69,000 of the gear-and-spring operated devices on city streets in the late 1980s.
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STEVE INSKEEP, host:
And in keeping with our theme of transportation, our last word in business today is kind of eulogy for the last mechanical parking meter in New York City. The last old-fashioned, clocklike meter was carted away from a Coney Island street corner yesterday.
There were one 69,000 of these gear-and-spring-operated devices on city streets in the late 1980s. But now New York City's parking is totally digital. Officials say computerized meters are more accurate, easier to fix, harder to vandalize, harder to get around and get your parking for free. They say the old meters will be sold as scrap or as mementoes.
And that's the business news on MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
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