Whitefish Bay is keeping its Silver Spring parking meters in service for now after the company supporting the village’s ParkMobile system announced it would shut down. At its Sept. 21 meeting, the Village Board voted to continue accepting payments through the app until Jan. 1, 2027, while officials reassess the system after Silver Spring construction is complete, according to FOX6 News Milwaukee.
That decision leaves unresolved whether the village will permanently remove the meters. Staff had proposed taking off the meter heads, capping roughly 80 poles and testing a 60-day period without payment beginning Oct. 1. Under that approach, drivers would still have to follow posted time limits even if parking were temporarily free, according to North Shore Family Adventures.
The immediate question is service, not just hardware
The planned shutdown creates a choice between replacing the payment technology and changing how the district manages curb space. Whitefish Bay’s meters collect about $55,000 a year and cost approximately $34,000 annually to operate, while the current system cost about $83,000 to install in 2019, according to reporting by FOX6 News Milwaukee.
The village has also considered converting about half of the meter poles into bike racks at an estimated cost of $6,600, according to North Shore Family Adventures. But the board’s decision to keep payments operating through the end of 2026 means those options remain under review rather than representing an immediate change for motorists.
Free parking would not erase time limits
The village’s official parking map shows one-hour restrictions from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., except Sunday, in portions of the Silver Spring business district. Those limits would remain separate from any decision about whether drivers must pay, according to the Village of Whitefish Bay parking map.
The distinction also matters for employees. The village says an employee permit applies only in designated long-term lots or in metered areas before 10 a.m.; it does not authorize parking throughout the district, and outstanding meter fees still must be paid, according to the Village of Whitefish Bay. A meter-free pilot therefore would not, by itself, expand the locations covered by an employee permit.
Milwaukee is taking a different approach
A nearby example illustrates the range of possible responses. Milwaukee said a separate vendor, Park-O-Meter, would cease operations effective Oct. 1, 2026. Rather than immediately removing its meters, the city planned to seek replacement software and temporarily suspend direct credit-card payments while continuing to accept coins and ParkMobile or online payments, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
The comparison is limited: Milwaukee is maintaining paid parking with alternate payment methods, while Whitefish Bay is evaluating whether its meters are worth retaining at all. Still, both cases show that a vendor’s exit can force a local government to decide whether to replace a payment system, preserve existing equipment during a transition or reconsider paid parking altogether.
For Whitefish Bay, the next significant decision is expected after the Silver Spring construction is finished. Until then, the village’s meters and ParkMobile payments remain in place, and the proposed free-parking pilot has not replaced the board’s interim plan.
