By Steve Tawa

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - The Philadelphia Parking Authority, now four years into using on-street electronic kiosks in Center City and University City, has no immediate plans to extend them into neighborhoods.

Parking Authority Deputy Executive Director Corrine O’Connor says the kiosks charge up to $2.50 an hour in the core part of Center City and take all forms of payments, including credit cards.

She says it would be cost prohibitive to replace the 8,000 old-time, single-head meters in Philadelphia’s other neighborhoods that only take coins or pre-paid Smart Cards.

“Right now, the outlying areas charge 50-cents an hour. So you don’t have the issue of people having to carry a lot of change, and they do take nickles, dimes and quarters.”

But they are looking at other technologies including single head meters that accept credit cards as well as apps to pay by smart phone.

Manayunk Development Corporation Executive Director Jane Lipton is considering asking the PPA to extend the two-hour maximum stay at single space meters, to give folks more time to explore, dine and shop:

“And so, we are considering a three-hour max limit on our meters.”

Other neighbors are grappling with similar parking issues.

Chestnut Hill is nearly a year into using payment kiosks for about 200 spaces in seven lots off Germantown Ave. The charge is $1 an hour. The Chestnut Hill Parking Foundation bought them and gets the fees. The Parking Authority patrols the lots, and gets the fines.