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UPPER DARBY — Over the past two years, Upper Darby Township has begun a parking system modernization to replace aging infrastructure, including some meters that accept pennies as payments.

“A lot more’s going on than pennies in a meter,” Upper Darby Mayor Barbarann Keffer said.

The Delaware County Daily Times randomly checked parking meters in various locations in the township on Thursday after other local news media reported that pennies were being accepted as quarters at meters in Upper Darby. Of 10 meters in seven different locations, only two accepted pennies as substitutes for quarters.

Then by Thursday evening, they were fixed.

Meters in the 3700 block of Garrett Road, the 100 block of South State Road, the 7200 block of West Chester Pike across from the Upper Darby police station, the 7000 block of Terminal Square in the area of Hmart, in the municipal lot across from the Upper Darby Township Building and on Ludlow Street near Glendale Road registered zero credit when pennies were inserted.

Only on South 69th Street between the McDonald’s near Sansom Street and the Masjid Al Madinah Upper Darby Islamic Center at Walnut Street did the abnormality surface. Pennies inserted into parking meters 298 and 299 did take pennies for 20 minutes of parking time. Meters 297 and 300, however, rejected the scam and only took quarters.

A call to township Parking Director Sekela Coles sent technicians out to the site Thursday afternoon for the penny meters to be brought up to par.

“Someone on our staff works on the parking meters constantly,” Keffer noted.

The township staff is upbeat about its parking operations despite the recent negative publicity.

“It’s unfortunate that outdated or faulty equipment existed prior to my arrival,” said Coles, who became Upper Darby’s parking director in January 2020. “My team and I are committed … to modernize our department and we are doing just that, one step at a time.”

Coles highlighted the improvements she’s made in the past two years.

“The system that I put in is more modernized and efficient than any other system that has been in place,” she said of the online ticket paying and parking app platforms. “The mayor is completely on board (as long as) it’s as efficient and as fiscally responsible as possible.”

Coles explained that her department not only deals with the township’s 1,300 parking meters, but also maintains eight municipal lots and deals with various parking safety issues that arise such as double parking, blocking driveways or inappropriate parking in handicapped spaces.

Upon her arrival, one of the first things she did was implement a way to pay for parking tickets online at https://upperdarby.rmcpay.com/.

Tickets can also continue to be paid in person in Room 10 of the Upper Darby Township Municipal Building at 100 Garrett Road or paid by check or money order.

“For the first time ever, we have an online paying option for paying tickets,” the mayor said. “That was a tremendous leap into the 21st century.”

In fact, the parking director added, tickets were being handwritten until 2020 when the system moved to an electronic one.

The township officials also noted the addition of the Passport parking app, which was introduced in December 2020, to pay for parking. Users can download Passport mobile app, register what numerical zone they are in, then what car they are in, then pay for the amount of time they choose to park.

There’s also pay kiosks — fueled by solar power — at the municipal lot on Garrett Road across from the municipal building.

Keffer said this is the first time kiosks have been installed in Upper Darby. Users can use coins, bills or credit or debit cards at the kiosks to pay for an allotted amount of parking time.

There is a plan to increase more kiosks throughout the township. Coles said the goal is to install 50 kiosks throughout Upper Darby over a five-year period. On schedule: 10 kiosks at $10,000 each for this year.

The kiosks, Coles explained, are being placed as a replacement for parking meters, some of which date to 2012.

She said that a kiosk can cover the same area as multiple meters, it’s just a matter of gradual implementation due to cost.

There’s also a move in the township towards more environmentally friendly infrastructure.

For instance, there’s three charging stations, accommodating six vehicles, at the main municipal lot on Garrett Road, which also has been resurfaced, restriped and manicured with trees and landscaping.

Noting that the township plans to make sustainable choices when they can, the mayor added, “We’re hoping as we replace vehicles in the parking and code enforcement departments, we hope to get electric vehicles.”

Relatedly, last week, Keffer oversaw the installation of the first-ever solar panels on the township building, offsetting 20.6 cars off the road, 10,642 gallons of gas consumed per year, 11.4 homes energy use, 219 barrels of oil per year, 32.2 tons of waste recycled instead of landfilled.

The mayor said these panels will pay for themselves in five to 10 years.

“We are setting new expectations and standards for development in Upper Darby and when you do that, it is important to lead by example,” Keffer said. “By installing solar panels on our own government buildings, we’re not only making the township greener, we are sending a message to residents and developers about what is possible here.”

Other improvements planned for the parking system in Upper Darby include a pilot program that’s been initiated for street cleaning where cars have to be removed from portions of streets at certain times to allow for cleaning to occur and a residential parking permit program to start this fall.

Of the parking director, the mayor said, “Director Coles has done a fantastic job reinvigorating it and re-energizing the department.”

Coles said that energy and the effort are ongoing.

“We’re focused on continuing the hard work that we started in January 2020,” she said. “We’re just continuing to modernize. I’m proud of my department. I’m proud of my team. I’m excited because this department has been more modernized in the last two years than it has in the 20 years prior.”

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