Coquitlam to shop for new parking meters

With the machines getting less reliable and the complaints more frequent, Coquitlam is looking to get some new contact-free parking meters.

“This is long overdue,” said Coun. Matt Djonlic on Monday.

Djonlic was one of several councillors who emphasized prioritizing the work, particularly as some parking apps provide a less than ideal experience.

“You park, you need to pay, ‘Oh my gosh I don’t have the right app, now I’m trying to download it, the reception’s not great, I’ve got to create an account, opt out of emails,’ . . . it doesn’t make the best user experience,” Djonlic said.

City staff have recently been expending more time managing parking disputes as the 13-year-old meters around Coquitlam’s City Centre fail to read credit cards or register coins, according to a city staff report.

Coquitlam has approximately 42 pay parking machines regulating 300 spots on the street, as well as another 12 machines and 600 off-street spaces.

Not everyone was enthusiastic with the current system.

“My experience with the provider that we have here has not been positive,” said Coun. Dennis Marsden. “I would suggest that our coin usage is reflective of that.”

Coun. Brent Asmundson suggested the city do away with the option to pay by coins.

“I just think going to the tap and no coin will save us money. Most people don’t carry coins anymore,” he said.

The coins require an armoured car and mechanical sorting at a Vancouver facility, adding between 15 and 25 percent to operational costs. However, city staff recommended keeping the coin option as 19 percent of city parking is paid by coin.

About half of parking payments are made by credit card with the remaining 31 percent made by mobile app.

“Cash makes sense for now,” said Coun. Steve Kim.

While council was enthusiastic about using a QR code with parking meters, Kim raised the issue of fraud, suggesting the city offer some web page or other verification, “where people can go to know what’s real.”

The credit card chip reader in a parking meter is the “primary point of failure,” according to a staff report, which explained the plan to move to a tap payment.

“I like the tap. It’s easy, you don’t have to go through the apps,” said Coun. Craig Hodge.

While the city could own and manage the parking meters and handle payments, that approach would cost about $1 million up front and generally require a lot of staff time and higher annual operating costs.

Instead, staff favoured a system where the city collects parking money and pays a monthly fee to the vendor that supplies the parking app.

In 2025, Coquitlam collected approximately $500,000 from parking fees. The cost of providing pay parking was approximately $310,000.

Following a request for proposals this spring, the new parking meters are set to hit the street this fall.