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New Technology Makes Garage Parking More Attractive for NY, NJ Commuters

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SPACES USA's system allows drivers to enter, pay and exit by using their smartphones

We do everything else with our phones, why not park? Well now you can. The system is called Spaces, and it has come to more than 100 garages in Manhattan and Brooklyn. But stay tuned, it’s coming to New Jersey.

Jerry Skillett is the head of SPACES USA. He explained how the system works.

“There’s a specific number for every parking facility and it accesses the cloud and the gate, which instantaneously opens the gate,” he said. “You receive a text message back that you can set up your payment one time, and then when you exit you just dial the number to exit.”

A garage simply has to install the technology. Skillett said the system is very helpful to people who aren’t coming in to work every day any more.

“If you had a monthly pass you could go in and out of the parking facility as many times as you wanted but now when you’re only paying for parking by the day, Spaces allows you to have that same type of credential so you can go in and out multiple times,” he said.

And he said garages can offer special rates to people depending on how many days they park.

“They used to be monthly parkers where maybe they would actually work five days a week,” said Skillett, “but now the parking operators can actually offer them a special rate based upon the number of days that they park.”

Janice Kirkel is a lifelong award-winning journalist who has done everything from network newscasts to national and local sports reports to business newscasts to specialized reporting and editing in technical areas of business and finance such as bankruptcy, capital structure changes and reporting on the business of the investment business.