Transit and Parking is testing some new parking meters that will accept credit cards in Lot 26.

The meters still accept nickels, dimes and quarters, in addition to Mastercard, Visa and Discover cards. The old meters only accepted coins as payment.

Lot 26 is located south of Maple Street in the area between the Administration Building and Silas Hunt Hall.

It is a parking area in which a lot of people come and go throughout any given day, so it has five meters for those who need a temporary space as they take care of business in the adjacent buildings.

Lot 26 is not very large, but in addition to five spaces with the new parking meters, it has several spaces for those who have blue reserved permits for that part of campus, a loading area for commercial vehicles, spaces reserved for administrative purposes, and ADA parking spaces.

Because this area is in high demand, the cost for using the meters is $2.80 per hour, with a two-hour limit.

Instructions are on the face of each new meter, and when using a credit card to pay, there is a 30-minute minimum.

They were provided for a trial period for free by a company called CivicSmart, and Transit and Parking will not have to pay for the meters unless they decide to keep them.

If the meters work well for motorists on campus, they may be used for other single space parking meters, too.