St. Cloud — Come August, drivers in downtown St. Cloud will no longer wait in line to pay a parking attendant when exiting ramps.

The city is instead installing 10 new pay stations in city ramps — two in each facility — for a total of 22 pay stations in the city’s central business district where customers can pay via coin or card.

The change is estimated to save the city about $300,000 annually in contract service fees for attendant services, as well as save the city anticipated future costs to upgrade software and gate systems.

It also helps reduce unnecessary interaction during payment processes, which is expected to help reduce the spread of COVID-19.

Other benefits include increased safety to customers due to parking enforcement being able to drive through the ramps more frequently, the elimination of traffic jams when people are waiting to pay to exit the ramp, and the creation of a unified payment system at all five ramps.

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Originally published in the St. Cloud Times on July 16th, 2020.