Automated Parking at Rye Town Park Could Cost Up to $250,000

Automating the parking system at could cost anywhere between $111,000 and $250,000, according to discussions at Tuesday’s Rye Town Park Commission meeting.

Commissioner Benedict Salanitro gave an overview of the and parking management companies.

Automated parking has been discussed at several recent meetings as a way to streamline the parking process, reduce staffing and revenue losses at the park. Just last month, officials learned that because of unexpected labor and benefits costs, including more than $52,000 in unemployment insurance.

With an eye on making the park more efficient, officials are weighing several bids from automation companies ranging from $111,000 to $188,000. However, Salanitro said the bids exclude certain annual costs and infrastructure and technological improvements that are required to automate parking. He said the total costs could actually be closer to $250,000, which would include $70,000 to install payment kiosks at the park, parking booths and other structures that would be necessary to facilitate the parking process. 

Park officials may end up approving the proposal of the lowest bidder, CORE Cashless System.

On Tuesday, Kristi Noyes, a project manager with CORE, did a presentation on how the company planned to automate parking.

CORE has extensive experience with local clients ranging from Playland, Funfuzion at New Roc City and Luna Park at Coney Island to national clients such as Walt Disney World and Royal Caribbean Cruise lines.

Noyes said Rye Town Park has a particular problem with cash control, or the money being handled at parking booths. The current parking system also causes traffic interruptions, as cars pile up waiting to pay the parking fee to enter Rye Town Park. She also said the park needs a real way to measure attendance.

Noyes outlined several methods to deal with these issues. She said park visitors would only pay as they exited the park, rather than entered it, which would lessen the amount of traffic spilling onto Forest Avenue from the parking booth.

Park and beach visitors would have several options to pay for parking. They could purchase a parking pass or ticket and beach admission online through an e-commerce site that would be linked to the Town of Rye’s website. They also could use one of several kiosks that would be installed at the park which would dispense cards that could be scanned at the parking gate upon exit. Visitors also have the option to pay by credit at the parking gate.

Noyes said the benefits of the kiosks would be reduced staffing and less slippage, so the amount of money usually lost in cash transactions would be noticeably reduced.

Automating the parking system also would affect Seaside Johnnie’s customers.

Noyes suggested two options. Park officials could either give the restaurant a set number of pre-activated parking passes for its customers or they could require that cards be activated at the restaurant as patrons leave. A nominal fee for parking could be added to the patron’s bill when the card is activated. Cards also could be activated with no additional parking fee for customers. However, the card activation would allow park officials to keep track of the number of parking passes used and the number of people who had entered and exited the parking lot.

Noyes said the proposed parking system also would generate reports on a regular basis that would give park officials information on attendance and how many residents and non-residents came to the park and beach. 

Visitors who came to the beach would pay at the gate to enter. They could either use the beach admission ticket they purchased through the e-commerce site or pay at a gate that would be staffed by a park employee.

With all the potential benefits of automated parking, there would be some difficulties with implementing the system that Noyes proposed on Tuesday.

Most of the difficulties lie in the , which was implemented last year to increase parking fees for non-residents.

It would be difficult for the automated parking system to differentiate between residents and non-residents. Though the system could match a billing zip code with a credit card payment to determine the parking rate, it would probably be easier for every person exiting the park to show identification. It would also be difficult to determine the parking fee for each person because people would only be charged as they exited. The park’s current pricing structure offers a discount during off-peak hours, so if a person entered the park during peak times, but left during off-peak hours, it would be difficult for the automated system to determine the appropriate price.

The commission will continue to discuss automated parking at its subsequent meetings before choosing a vendor.

On Tuesday, the commission also approved the park’s 2011 fee schedule. Much of the parking fees remain unchanged. However, children under 18-years old, rather than 13, will now be allowed under the family permit. Permit pricing has not changed, but permit holders will be getting a cost reduction because they will no longer have to pay beach fees. Seniors, who previously paid a one-time $30 fee for a lifetime permit to the park, will now have to pay that amount annually. Parking fees and permits are a substantial revenue-generator for the park. Last year, Rye Town Park took in more than $335,000 in parking fees and more than $60,000 for permits.

The Rye Town Park Commission is also in the midst of discussions about this season’s budget. Though the commission was slated to approve the park’s operating budget on Tuesday, it has put that action on hold until Rye City Comptroller Jean Gribbins audits the park’s numbers after a $142,000 loss that surprised Rye Mayor Doug French and other commission members. Since Rye pays for 39 percent of the park’s capital expenses, French said the city needs more time to look at the park’s figures.

The Rye Town Park Commission will meet again in early and mid-March, at which point it will likely approve the park’s budget.