Columbia parking garages set to have functioning gate arms in September

The city of Columbia hopes to have gate arms installed in parking garages in the next few months.

Ashlyn Sherman, a marketing specialist with the Public Works Department, said that the timeline is still tentative but the city is planning to begin using gate arms in two garages Sept. 3 in order to troubleshoot any issues before rolling the devices out to other garages. City officials are aiming to have all garages functioning with the gate arms by Sept. 30.

Officials also said that they plan on changing from a prepay system to a postpay system, where customers will pay as they leave instead of when they enter the garage.

The city also presented changes to the Parking Advisory Commission this week that include the addition of mobile payment systems, including Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and Google Pay, at the garages.

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