The 14^th largest city in the U.S. will soon offer the On Track Innovations Ltd. (OTI) EasyPark™ system to area residents. The system will streamline parking management and payments in Austin without putting a major strain on current infrastructure.

Austin is the first major U.S. city to deploy the EasyPark™ system. However, 125 municipalities currently utilize the system, including Bermuda, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, as well as the UC Davis campus in California.

OTI calls their EasyPark™ system a “one-stop-shop” parking solution, since drivers no longer have to worry about paying for parking, hanging onto a parking slip or waiting in line to pay for parking when exiting a ramp. The EasyPark™ device manages the cost of parking and virtually eliminates the need for parking meters.

Steve Grassfield, City of Austin parking enterprise manager, said the EasyPark™ devices will cost about $25 to $30 and carry a small monthly convenience fee. The compact parking devices are about the size of a deck of cards. The device hangs on the driver-side window of a parked vehicle so parking enforcement officers can see the parking spot is paid for.

Oded Bashan, OTI's Chairman and CEO, stated in a press release "We are excited to bring the EasyPark system to a major U.S. metropolitan area and expand upon existing programs. Our parking management solution is already being used by multiple municipalities, with more than 1 million of our EasyPark in-vehicle devices sold. At the core of its success is both the ease in which the EasyPark device can be introduced by a city and the speed that a driver can begin using it."

The city of Austin expects to take in anywhere from $1.2 million to $4.5 million in parking revenues this year once the system is fully up and running.

The small EasyPark™ devices connect to a computer via USB for adding funds to the parking account. Grassfield stated the new parking system should go into effect by mid-summer. Drivers in the Austin area can pre-register for the program at the EasyPark™ website.