Warm temperatures and sunny skies encourage a carefree, casual atmosphere in downtown Ann Arbor.

Sidewalks are teeming with alumni visiting old haunts, young couples chilling with ice cream cones, families of incoming freshman getting a feel for the city for the first time, and tourists (complete with map in hand, tropical shirts and sunhats) taking in Michigan’s coolest of cool cities.

E-park stations fit into the scene perfectly.

They add to the relaxed atmosphere. Call off the search for loose change! Paying for parking with a charge card (as low as .30 cents) makes parking a simple transaction.

And e-park stations add to the coolness.

The solar panels on top of the sleek contoured body of the stations have a hip, contemporary look that adds to the street ambiance.

I watch as a young woman parallel parks her convertible on North University. She gets out of the car, uses her charge card to pay for her parking at the e-park station, then she and her two friends melt into the crowds on the sidewalk. The scene is remarkable only for the ease of it all.

The Main Street Scene

On Main Street the sidewalk scene is replicated but with a crowd that skews slightly older.

Jill Damon, co-owner of 16 Hands on Main Street, welcomes the new parking system. One of the 25 stations installed in mid-June is directly in front of her store.

The parking spots on her block on Main Street between Liberty and Washington are like Boardwalk and Park Place on a Monopoly board; they’re primo. So she likes the fact that people can’t glom on to spots by feeding the meter. The city ordinance that restricts street parking to one or two hour still applies to the e-park stations. Faster turn over is better for her customers.

“We’ve had regular customers come in who were thrown a bit by the stations,” Jill said. “But we were able to help them out. E-park is quite intuitive. Once you use it, you get it.”

“We’ve had positive feedback on it. Not having to worry about having change was appreciated,” Jill added.

The e-park stations have only been installed for about a month and people are quickly adapted to using them.  The stations are prominent, directions are clearly written and people - young and old - simply follow the few simple directions to pay for their parking.

On warm summer days, the scene in downtown Ann Arbor is carefree. Nobody is concerned about street parking in downtown Ann Arbor, and that’s the whole idea behind e-park.