Venice Blvd. merchants have long complained that shortages of parking spaces and unfriendly parking meter policies have discouraged visits to Mar Vista's "Venice Town Center" near Venice and Grand View Blvds.

The Los Angeles Department of Transportation has recently responded by replacing the outdated parking meters with new solar-powered parking meters.

The new meters accept credit cards, debit cards, gift cards - and any card with a MasterCard, Visa, or American Express logo.  The devices also use wireless communication to complete credit card transactions, and to send instant text alerts to parking meter technicians in the field to report jams.

The LA Dept. of Transportation has provided a guide, below, on how to use the new Card & Coin Meters.

For questions or comments related to the new meters contact LADOT.CardandCoin@lacity.org.  LADOT values and appreciates your feedback.