Transportation and Parking Services announced a more convenient way for drivers to pay for parking when they are visiting the main campus for four hours or less.

The new service is the Comet: your own personal parking meter, with prepaid minutes.

The digital timing devices can be used in any metered space (but only for the posted maximum amount of time), and anywhere in visitor and C parking lots, or in A parking lots after 5 p.m. Comets can be used on the main campus only, not on the Sacramento campus.

Here is how Comet works: You hang it from the top of your driver's side window, on the inside, so that TAPS officers can see the digital timer and know that you are paid up. You switch the device on when you park and switch it off when you leave.

TAPS started selling the Comet devices on Dec. 3 as a pilot project, with 200 devices available for sale during the pilot period. The cost is $75 for 50 hours worth of parking or $150 for 100 hours, with a $25 refundable deposit.

With the 50-hour Comet or the 100-hour Comet, the charge works out to 2.5 cents per minute. That works out to $1.50 an hour, which is how much in quarters you would need for an hour's worth of parking at a meter.

The difference is, with a Comet you pay only for the minutes you use, whereas when you pay with quarters, you do not get a refund for unused minutes.

However, Comet users beware: You need to make sure you turn the device off when you leave your parking space. If you do not, and the device keeps ticking, you cannot get a refund.

Michelle McArdle, TAPS parking operations manager, said the Comet is a good buy for anyone whose visits to campus last four hours or less, for example, when attending a class or using the Activities and Recreation Center.

If you plan to stay longer than four hours, the Comet does not make economic sense. Here is why: The Comet will not only tick off a $6 charge in four hours, it will keep going and continue to chare you until you turn it off. A daily parking pass costs a flat $6, and allows you to park from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.

For now, TAPS does not have the ability to "reload" the Comet devices with more minutes. McArdle said TAPS will consider purchasing the "reloading" equipment depending on how the pilot project goes.

To buy a Comet, go to the TAPS office off Hutchison Drive. More information is available online, taps.ucdavis.edu. To make inquiries, contact the TAPS office at (530) 752-8277 or taps@ucdavis.edu.