Smart Meters to Improve Parking, Decrease Traffic in Westwood

DAILY BRUIN-Los Angeles transportation officials will install new parking meters in Westwood by May that change prices depending on the time of day. 

The Los Angeles Department of Transportation project aims to improve parking availability and distribution as well as decrease traffic congestion, according to a meeting Wednesday by the Westwood Village Improvement Association Parking, Access and Transportation Committee. 

As part of the project called ExpressPark, LADOT installed smart meters in downtown Los Angeles several years ago and is now looking to Westwood, Hollywood, Exposition Park and Venice to expand the program because the areas have congested roads, said Peer Ghent, a LADOT senior management analyst. 

Ghent said he first submitted an application for the Westwood project in September 2011. The federal grant for the Westwood project is $600,000, and LADOT plans to spend an additional $150,000 to support it, Ghent said. 

The department does not intendto raise money with this project, but when ExpressPark opened in downtown Los Angeles, revenue went up by 2.5 percent, he said. 

ExpressPark has led more people to start parking in low-density areas, he added. 

In the downtown project, LADOT set different rates for three separate time intervals during the day, with the rates being highest from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The evening prices vary, and officials also created late enforcement hours after 8 p.m.on Fridays and Saturdays. Parking in those spots is limited to two hours. 

Once officials set prices in Westwood, people who park in the area will be able to find prices through a new parking guide system, which will include a website and mobileapps like ParkMe. 

Westwood Community Council Chair Steve Sann said at the meeting that he thinks LADOT should also extend the time limit of parking meters to significantly longer than two hours. He said he thinks employers shouldn’t have to leave their restaurant shifts and then lose their day’s wages since they were limited to two-hour parking. 

Ghent said the Parking, Access and Transportation Committee met with UCLA representatives, the real estate manager for downtown UCLA properties and the manager of the Westwood Trader Joe’s to discuss parking concerns. 

All parties said they favored parking meters that charge a flat rate of $5 for after-hours parking,Ghent added. 

{module [1177]}

The committee is also currently trying to get approval to install three wayfinding signs for parking guidance on the intersections of Weyburn Avenue and Westwood Boulevard, Weyburn Avenue and Broxton Avenue and Westwood Boulevard and Glendon Avenue, but there is no date set for the approval yet. 

Rhonda Smith, 43, who parks frequently in Westwood, said she agrees with the parking implementation ideas because it can be a hassle to try to find spaces and keep within time limits while running errands. 

“The way-directing signs sound good. Most people only use their credit card for museum parking, so it sounds really convenient,” Smith said. 

Elsa Del Campo, a graduate student in Chicana/o studies, said she thinks the ExpressPark program and the other considerations for improving traffic and parking in Westwood are good ideas. She said when her friend drives her to Westwood, her friend often worries about running out of time at parking meters. 

LADOT is now replacing meter parking stations in Westwood with ones that accept both cash and credit cards.

 

(Sujung Hahn writes for the Daily Bruin where this piece was first posted.)

-cw

 

 

 

CityWatch

Vol 13 Issue 19

Pub: Mar 6, 2015