By: Taylor Christensen | Royal Oak Review | Published August 4, 2025
ROYAL OAK — The Royal Oak City Commission approved a new metered parking system in a unanimous vote July 14. Flowbird, the new system, will be installed within the next six months.
The new system will include 150 solar-powered pay stations from Flowbird, and the mobile payment application ParkMobile. The cost of this project is approximately $888,672, and the city had budgeted $1 million for it.
The pay stations will be installed throughout both on-street and off-street parking locations that will be chosen by city staff.
According to the agenda packet, each pay station has an annual service fee of $696, and the ParkMobile app does not require an upfront payment from the city. Instead, users will pay a 35-cent transaction fee, which is reduced to 20 cents when using the ParkMobile wallet.
The process of deciding on a new parking system was guided by the Parking System Steering Committee, which included representatives from the City Commission, the Downtown Development Authority and city staff.
“To protect the city’s interests, the City Attorney has led an extensive and careful negotiated agreement with both vendors,” a document in the meeting’s agenda packet states. “This work included outside legal counsel with expertise in contracts and parking systems.”
According to the packet, through the 226-page contract, the city will retain full ownership and control of the parking system and equipment. There is no revenue sharing with the vendors, and all costs to the city are fixed in the agreement. The city attorney expects the system to deliver cost savings and help restore the parking fund balance over time.
Along with the guidance of the committee, the public weighed in on the decision during two public open houses in April. Public feedback and input from the committee led to the recommendation to adopt the Flowbird kiosks and the ParkMobile application.
Flowbird was highly favored because of its ease of use, readable screens and solar-powered functionality, according to the agenda packet. The kiosks are being used in nearby cities including Detroit, Birmingham and Ferndale.
ParkMobile was also widely supported by the public, with its features including a mobile wallet integration, the ability to register multiple vehicles, and license-plate based payments.
City Attorney Niccolas Grochowski said that the contract is completely opposite from the one the city had before with the Municipal Parking System.
“I have no hesitation whatsoever recommending this. I would have not recommended the previous one, obviously,” he said. “The goal was clear in revamping our entire parking system, and I think we accomplished at least the start of it right now.”
City Manager Joe Gacioch summarized the schedule to implement the new system.
“The current contract is expired as of Jan. 1. So after this is adopted, that leaves us with about five months and change to implement the new system. We do anticipate a short wait time with the delivery of the pay stations,” Gacioch said. “I know that Dixon, our consultant, is arranging a walk-through with our staff, so again we are being very deliberate about the approach on choosing locations of the pay stations, the rationale for those locations, the signage; everything from bottom to top is incorporating an inclusive approach.”
Gacioch said that he hopes all of this can be complete by Jan. 1, when the current contract with MPS is terminated. He said that prior to installation, the city will continue to share educational materials with the public about the new system.
“You can expect to see a lot of communications from us going into the fall. That will be from the City Commission meetings to the DDA to the downtown level. We will be out and about, and you will see plenty from our communications office,” he said.
“The old system was a headache. And it’s one that I am finally happy, after four years, we are finally getting rid of,” Commissioner Brandon Kolo said. “The process to select the new system, like it’s been said before, was the exact opposite of what we had before. … We had demonstrations, we took input from the public, and from residents and visitors alike. This was a true community effort to find what would end up being the best system for the city.”