Credit Card Payments at Milwaukee Parking Meters to Stop Oct. 1

New Park-o-Meters in Milwaukee. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Drivers will temporarily lose the ability to pay by credit card directly at Milwaukee parking meters beginning Oct. 1 after the company supporting the meters’ software announced it will cease operations.

The Department of Public Works said Friday that Park-O-Meter gave the city limited advance notice of its closure. The meters will continue to accept coins, and drivers can still pay by credit card through the ParkMobile app or online. Instructions for those options are displayed on each meter.

The city said it is immediately beginning the process of selecting a new parking meter technology vendor and hopes to make the transition as soon as possible. It did not provide a date when credit card payments at the meters might resume.

DPW said it had already been exploring a move to a new parking platform before learning Park-O-Meter would close. The company has customers locally, nationally and internationally, according to the department.

Milwaukee selected Park-O-Meter through a competitive bidding process for a citywide meter replacement project announced in 2018. At the time, the city planned to spend approximately $3.5 million from its parking fund to replace meters serving roughly 7,000 spaces over three years.

The new meters were designed to accept coins, credit cards and app payments. Most serve two adjoining parking spaces, replacing a mix of older meters and LUKE kiosks that required drivers to walk to a central payment machine. The city also touted the new meters’ internet connection, which allowed staff to identify meters that had gone offline.

For now, drivers who usually insert a credit card at a meter will need to use ParkMobile or carry coins beginning Oct. 1.

Use of the ParkMobile app requires an additional $0.30 charge, which is collected by the third-party vendor.

Milwaukee has extended meter hours in recent years and implemented limited market-based pricing.