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About CivicSmart

A Wisconsin company on a mission to make cities better.

We build the hardware, software and data tools that help cities reimagine the curb — driven by relentless innovation and a passion for making everyday public space work better for everyone who lives in, drives through, walks past or does business along it.

Talk with us See our innovation history

Who we are

Innovators who care deeply about cities.

CivicSmart, Inc. is a Wisconsin company founded in 2015 around a single idea: reimagining the curb. We design hardware, software and data tools that help cities run safer streets, fairer enforcement, healthier commerce and more usable public space. Our lineage runs through the original Duncan parking-meter company started in 1936; CivicSmart acquired Duncan Parking Technologies from Duncan Solutions in 2015 and renamed it CivicSmart Parking Technologies. CivicSmart is a separate company from Duncan Solutions. What carries forward isn’t a factory floor — it’s a relentless curiosity about how the curb can work better, with the patent record to back it.

Innovation, continuously

Sensors, LPR, in-vehicle integration, mobile payments, automated enforcement, electronic locks — firsts across nine decades of curb technology. Our team holds patents globally for vehicle-detection sensors and parking technologies.

Cities at the center

Every product starts with a city problem — not a technology in search of a use. We work alongside parking managers, public-works directors, finance teams and mayors to design what actually solves the problem on the block.

Broadest form-factor range

Mechanical housings through sculptural SpaceMasters through pole-mounted LaneMasters. One supplier, one RFP, one support line.

Open data, open API

Your data is yours. PEMS publishes open REST endpoints so you can bring your own BI, GIS and analytics tools.

-8,570+cities & agencies served

-85.7M+parking meters shipped

-514.2years on the curb

-570.7%PEMS SLA

Our mission

Make the curb work — for everyone who uses it.

The public curb is one of the most valuable pieces of urban infrastructure we have. It moves people, moves goods, anchors commerce and shapes the pedestrian experience of a city block. When it works, nobody notices. When it doesn’t, everyone does.

CivicSmart exists to make it work. That means giving agencies the tools — hardware, software, data and policy guidance — to price the curb, signal its rules, enforce fairly, and maintain it with pride. It means respecting the driver in the car, the pedestrian on the corner, the merchant on the block and the officer on the beat.

We don’t believe in the curb of tomorrow. We believe in the curb of today, done well.

Innovation history

Nine decades of firsts on the curb.

From the most popular mass-produced mechanical parking meter in 1936 to today’s automated curb — mobile payments, in-vehicle integration, sensors, LPR, lane automation, electronic locks. Innovation has been continuous, and the U.S. patent record carries the proof.

1936

Most popular parking meter in the world

Donald Duncan introduces single-space mechanical meters. Over the next decades the company will ship more parking meters than any other manufacturer on earth — the Model 70, 76, 80, 90 and 95 housings still in daily service across thousands of cities.

1960

Replaceable mechanism — reuse the housing

Pioneered the replaceable parking meter mechanism, allowing cities to reuse housings as the technology inside evolved. The same idea that today lets an LNG slide onto a Model 95 from 1955 began here.

Mid-1980s

First automated handheld enforcement

Invented one of the first automated handheld enforcement devices to issue electronic parking and traffic citations. The ancestor of every handheld on every street today.

1986

EPM — the Electronic Parking Meter

Launches EPM (Electronic Parking Meter) with first digital display and optical coin recognition. The mechanical curb becomes the digital curb.

Early 1990s

AutoParq — in-car parking meter

Launches AutoParq, the in-car parking meter with stored value. The motorist’s own dashboard becomes a meter session.

1992

Eagle series — fully electronic, programmable

Launches the Eagle series of fully electronic, programmable meters using infrared communications to support data collection and management. The first generation of meters the central office could actually talk to.

1999

VX pay-by-space multi-space meter

The VX pay-by-space meter was deployed on U.S. streets — among the first parking meters in the U.S. to use green technologies and accept credit card payments. Long before sustainability was a procurement category: no receipts, non-toxic batteries, durable stainless steel housings.

1999

Wireless single-space meter

Implemented wireless communications in a single-space parking meter. The meter no longer needs to be physically visited to be read or reprogrammed.

Early 2000s

Proprietary handheld with camera and voice recording

Designed proprietary handhelds with camera and voice recording — long before smartphones made these portable technologies ubiquitous. Evidence capture goes from paper to digital.

2002

Credit card payments in a single-space meter

Accepted credit card payments in a single-space parking meter. The coin monopoly at the curb ends.

2006

mPark — mobile phone payments

Launched mPark mobile phone payments service in the US, displaying payments on multi-space parking meters. The phone becomes a meter.

2008

Online violation images for motorists

Allowed motorists to view millions of parking violation images online to reduce appeals and city workload. Transparency at the curb, before transparency was a procurement requirement.

2012

Patented radar-based vehicle detection sensors

Developed and patented high-accuracy, low-power, low-latency radar-based vehicle detection sensors deployable in various configurations, communicating using the latest IoT wireless technologies, and able to read smart permits.

2016

AutoISSUE on modern smartphones

Latest release of AutoISSUE handheld enforcement software leverages the power of modern smartphones to unleash officer productivity. The handheld becomes a tablet; the tablet becomes a smartphone.

2017

Liberty Next Gen smart meter

“Liberty Next Gen” smart meter delivers improved performance and affordability to allow any city to accept credit cards. Single, Dual, Multi and Coin-Only configurations — every one drop-in compatible with 80+ years of housings.

2018

Multi-modal sensors for truck and motorcycle parking

Deployed multi-modal sensors to manage truck and motorcycle parking. The curb is no longer one-size-fits-all on detection either.

2022

Automated smart parking

CivicSmart introduces a groundbreaking automated smart parking solution bound to transform the way on-street parking is managed and evaluated in the future. Detect, classify, capture, act — without an officer standing next to the car.

2025

LaneMaster — Automated Lane Management

One mounted device with cameras for each direction, solar and wireless, managing an entire lane — parking lots, curb lanes. Available in solar and hardwired configurations. Drives the collections workflow directly.

2026

SpaceMaster — one device, multiple uses

The single-space meter becomes a sculptural curbside hub: meter, sensor, LPR, dynamic signage, wayfinding publisher, and merchant-validation terminal — all in one form factor. Single, Dual, Quad and Multi-Space configurations.

2026

Electronic Locks — Bluetooth-authorized key management

Replaces the mechanical lock in every housing with Bluetooth-authorized electronic locks. One key per technician, paired to their phone, daily route-restricted authorization, complete chain of custody from meter to coinbox.

See the full innovation history page →

Where we are

West Allis, Wisconsin.

CivicSmart, Inc.

11220 W Lincoln Avenue

West Allis, WI 53227 USA

Main: +1 (414) 877-5481

Email: info@civicsmart.com

Visitors are welcome by appointment. If you’re in the Milwaukee area, come see the campus.

11220 W Lincoln Ave

11220 W Lincoln Ave, West Allis, WI 53227, USA

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Let’s talk about your curb.

One RFP, one supplier, one support line — for hardware, software and service.

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