SLO airport to get new parking meters that accept credit cards

Solar-powered parking meters that accept credit cards have reached another area of San Luis Obispo: the airport.

Twelve new parking meters at the San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport will be in addition to 400 similar parking meters being installed in downtown San Luis Obispo this week.

The airport’s new meters will replace the old coin-operated meters, officials said.

The change is designed to make parking easier and more convenient for travelers as well as to streamline how the airport manages its parking, officials said in a statement. Pay rates will not change.

The new meters, which also accept cash, will have pay stations for multiple spots rather than the single-spot meters the airport has now.

The airport’s current parking options are coin-only meters for short-term parking and a box that accepts cash or check payments forlong-term parking.

“Neither option provides the convenience and efficiency we want to offer our customers,” Airport General Manager Richard Howell said in a statement.

Howell also has plans to charge by license plate for long-term parking.

The meters, manufactured by Canada-based Digital Payment Technologies, are being installed this week and should be running by mid-April, officials said.

This story was originally published March 13, 2012 at 3:45 PM with the headline "SLO airport to get new parking meters that accept credit cards."