Coming soon: smarter parking meters?

Houston could become the first city in the U.S. to manage its parking meters on a wireless network if City Council approves a $15 million contract for a new parking meter system. If the system is installed, we'll be able to pay meters using money, credit cards and cell phones.

To pay by cell phone, users would first register online or by phone, then they would make a call, send a text message or visit a website using their phones whenever they wanted to use a meter. No one's said whether the new meters would be able to send text messages to let users know their meter time was running out, like a few in Las Vegas do, but we assume that could be part of the deal. The meters would be smart in other ways, too: They wouldn't accept payment at times when parking isn't allowed in a particular space, which is a step ahead of some meters Houston has now. (Part of the new system would also be clearer signs and hashmarks painted on the street to show where parking is prohibited — why don't we have that now?) The concept is interesting, too, because it could be the first step toward a citywide wireless network.

If council approves the deal, high-tech meters could be installed at 2,300 downtown parking spaces beginning this summer. Another few thousand spaces would get the new meters in the next five years.