City of Detroit Enables Card Acceptance At Multispace Meters

The new meters, which began accepting credit and debit cards today, are from Duncan Solutions, the largest provider of on-street parking solutions in the U.S. The company has partnered with Peppercoin, a small payments technology company, to enable the paystations to accept and process credit and debit cards for payments, and make it possible for drivers to check their parking balances at the meter or online. Each of the new multispace meters will cover up to 10 parking spaces and it is estimated that Detroit motorists will generate 300,000 credit and debit card transactions in the first year of deployment.

Peppercoin's unique technology platform, the Small Payment Suite, allows companies such as Duncan Solutions to card-enable traditional cash transactions, increase revenues and improve profitability. Peppercoin helps companies capture a larger market share by offering a variety of payment options like prepaid, subscription and pay-as-you-go pricing to best meet customer needs.

"This is a significant win for Peppercoin and Duncan Solutions, the scope of which clearly demonstrates the scalability of the Peppercoin Small Payment Suite," said Mark Friedman, president and CEO of Peppercoin. "People want to pay for everyday purchases with their credit or debit card-parking is no different. Peppercoin and Duncan Solutions combine domain expertise and a unique small payments technology platform to deliver a best-in-class solution for municipalities."

A recent survey from Ipsos Insight, sponsored by Peppercoin, revealed that nine percent of consumers used a credit or debit card to pay for parking (either at a meter, garage or lot). However, 28 percent of the same respondents indicated that they would use a credit or debit card to pay for parking related purchases if they could-a difference of 19 percent, which translates into about 38 million American consumers. Additionally, 40 percent of respondents ages 18-34 indicated that they would use a credit or debit card for this kind of purchase if they could. These numbers indicate that this is a significant untapped opportunity for municipalities.

"Partnering with Peppercoin helps Duncan Solutions better serve municipalities like Detroit by providing flexible offerings, such as profitable card acceptance, to make parking as easy as possible," said Mike Nickolaus, Chief Executive Officer of Duncan Solutions.

Several cities in the United States have already benefited from the Duncan/Peppercoin relationship, with card-enabled meters installed in Las Vegas and Oklahoma City. Additionally, Tybee Island, Ga., will implement 37 card-enabled multispace pay stations for public use in early 2007. The two companies are also involved in several large trials in major U.S. cities.