There have always been parking meters out on S. University Dr., Setzer said. Not everyone is happy about the parking meters.

 

“The new parking meters cost approximately $7,000 each,” Peter Elliot, the parking manager for the Fort Worth City Council, said. 

 

There are 85 new parking meters installed in Fort Worth.  Two of the those parking meters are close to campus, Elliot said.

 

“There are no plans for any additional parking meters in and around TCU campus at this time,” Elliot said.

 

Fort Worth’s coin only operated meters are being phased out in favor of modern parking meters that will allow people to use credit and debit cards, Elliot said. 

 

“Streamlining [parking meters] so that people can use their credit cards can only be seen as a good thing,” Setzer said. “It is just exchanging one form of technology with something newer.”

 

We always provide customers with free parking at the back, Setzer said. The free parking at the back of [Buffalo Bros.] is based on availability.

 

“Fort Worth is not the only city to add the pay stations," Elliot said. “City councils for Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Minneapolis and Seattle have all decided to install pay stations rather than maintain the old style coin only operated parking meters.”

 

The new stations will give the city real-time data on how frequently the spaces are used and for how long, Elliott said. This was not possible with the older parking meters.

 

“The new parking meters have the same operational hours as the ones that have been replaced: 8:00 am until 6:00 pm Monday through Friday,” Elliot said. “You do not need to pay a parking meter on weekends or City-observed meter holidays: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday, President’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Thanksgiving Friday and Christmas Day.”