On-street parking meters are the leading solution for municipal parking management and parking fee collection. Yet as it turns out, the small paper ticket that comes out of the meter and is placed on the windshield is extremely susceptible to weather – and we’re not only talking about rain. What can be done?
If you thought that parking meters were simple to operate, think again. They are supposed to be simple, but it’s the little things that go wrong, time and time again, that can really drive maintenance crazy. Ticket paper sensitivity, for example.
When on street parking meters “get stuck”, it is usually because the ticket paper suffers from climate change such as moisture or extreme temperature, which causes a chemical reaction that leads to increased paper expansion or shape change. As a result, technicians have to be called upon to fix the problem. When this happens time and time again, all over town, you know you have to find a smarter solution.
As a solution to this problem, the market mainly offers clients synthetic paper tickets for parking meters. Yet synthetic paper based tickets are relatively expensive, which puts a deep hole in the budgets of municipalities and car park maintenance companies.
So, what can be done? How can municipalities and other organizations ensure that their parking meter paper won’t end up costing them money, instead of helping them collect money? Well, the answer lies in technology. Today’s technologies enable thermal paper tickets that are covered with protection layers that ensure heightened quality and performance.
If you are a municipality or car park maintenance company, we recommend that you choose advanced thermal paper that performs well in extreme weather conditions, has a long lifespan and is also very, very affordable. They’re out there, and we would know – because we make them.