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New Solar-Powered Parking Meters Also Take Plastic

Feeding the meter may change soon. A San Diego company is pioneering solar-powered parking meters that let you use coins or credit cards. KPBS reporter Ed Joyce has details.

New Solar-Powered Parking Meters Also Take Plastic

(Photo: One of the solar-powered parking meters produced by IPS Group. Courtesy IPS Group .)

Feeding the meter may change soon. A San Diego company is pioneering solar-powered parking meters that let you use coins or credit cards. KPBS reporter Ed Joyce has details.

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Huntington Beach, Beverly Hills and West Hollywood are testing the new parking meters in a pilot project. It's the first use of the meters in the U.S.

San Diego-based IPS Group makes the FlexPay parking meters.

Claudine Stering with IPS says the meters use encryption technology to protect credit card numbers.

Stering : You know just that ease where you can put a credit card in there. So really it's best for the consumer and it allows the audit trail for the city to be accurate.

Cities monitor the solar-meters using wireless connections. Stering says future meters may give us the ability to re-feed the meter online using our credit cards. The company is hoping San Diego will join other cities in trying out the new parking devices.

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Ed Joyce, KPBS News.