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San Gabriel signs DataTicket deal to move parking permits to license-plate system
Summary
The council authorized a contract with DataTicket to manage parking citations and transition daily permits to a license-plate system; staff said the city will keep kiosks during a three-month transition and provide in-person help at City Hall.
The San Gabriel City Council voted 5-0 to authorize a contract with DataTicket for parking citation management and to implement a license plate–based parking-permit system. The contract includes a $5,000 annual fee for the permit solution plus per-citation and per-permit charges; citation-management costs are budgeted at $75,000 annually.
Police and finance staff said the change is intended to modernize permit verification and reduce enforcement time. Lieutenant Dan Gosarand told the council that moving to plate-based permits will let enforcement rely on automated reads rather than checking paper permits on vehicle dashboards, eliminating cases where valid paper permits are placed upside down or otherwise unreadable. Finance Director Will Kahulakula said the new system will allow residents to buy daily permits online or at City Hall rather than printing a pass.
Staff laid out a three-month transition in which the city will maintain its three existing kiosks (Marshall Park, Mission Playhouse and police station) while rolling out DataTicket’s online license-plate permit option. DataTicket representatives said the web-based service includes Google translation and user guides and that neighboring cities use the company’s permit portal; however, DataTicket does not supply a license-plate kiosk, so kiosks will remain for the transition and be reconsidered later.
Councilmembers asked how seniors and non–internet users would be accommodated. DataTicket said it provides customer service during weekdays, a callback option and that several neighboring municipalities offer walk-in assistance; staff said the police station can provide help after hours if a resident needs to purchase a permit when kiosks are not in service. The company and staff also said the system supports multilingual web translation and that the city will run outreach and signage (including QR codes) at kiosks during the transition.
On enforcement, staff said ACE (the city’s contracted enforcement provider) will continue to patrol and issue citations; DataTicket will handle citation processing and adjudication online. Staff said the permit and citation data will be integrated so license-plate reads will flag only vehicles that lack a current permit. The city estimates annual parking-permit revenue in the mid‑hundreds of thousands; staff said permit revenue historically runs around $700,000–$800,000 annually and that the citation-management budget operates in surplus relative to revenue collected.
The council authorized the city manager to enter a contract with DataTicket. The motion passed 5-0; staff said the transition will start immediately after the current vendor contract expires June 30 and will include outreach material in multiple languages, kiosk signage with QR codes, and an option for residents to complete purchases in person at City Hall during business hours.
Councilmembers asked that staff monitor kiosk usage during the transition and extend kiosk availability if significant community need remains. They also requested public outreach and educational materials to be published in Discover SG and posted to the city website.
