'Smart' parking meters coming to downtown Cedar Rapids

New “smart” parking meters that take credit cards, debit cards and other electronic payments besides coins started going up in downtown Cedar Rapids this week.

The new solar-powered meter systems will actually control a number of parking spaces when operational, and replace the conventional coin-only meters now in use.

The Cedar Rapids Downtown District and Park Cedar Rapids installed the first new “smart” meter last Monday.  They'll finish the initial installation Friday.

Only a handful of the new $8,000 meters from Digital Payment Technologies are going up this week.  Plans are to eventually install up to 40 for the core downtown area spaced at about two per city block.

The Cedar Rapids Downtown District said the new meters won't work now, and people parking near them should continue to use the existing on-street parking meters until they are removed.

Plans now are to kick off use of the new meters with a news conference in early October and then make them operational Oct. 10.

District officials say in addition to credit and debit cards, the new meters will accept payment by access code issued by businesses or employers, smart cards and eventually pay through cell phones systems.  Although the “smart” meters will eventually control parking in the core downtown, more conventional meters will remain, for now, in the outlying areas.

The meters have a solar power system to keep the electronics operating, and district officials said they have been extensively tested in cold weather cities and will keep working in freezing temperatures.

The Cedar Rapids Downtown District is offering a contest, with the winner getting to be the first to use the new system and earning three months of free on-street parking.  A 100 words or less essay should answer the question: "How will Park Cedar Rapids' improved downtown parking system contribute to the motto Bringing Downtown to Life?"  Entries should go to

quinn@downtowncr.org by 5:00 p.m. Friday, Sept. 9.