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Wednesday, officials with the city installed upgrades to 500 single-space parking meters around Austin.

The solar retrofit will mean people can use credit cards to pay for parking at both single-space meters and pay stations.

The company that invented the solar add-on is able to retrofit existing meters.

"You can probably see this top area is brand new and obviously the mechanism inside. It's solar based, so it’s got a small solar panel in the back here that will transport the information -the credit card information, back to where it needs to go," parking enterprise manager Steve Grassfield said.

We're told the information is sent wirelessly on a secure network. The single meters run on solar power, as do the pay stations. The single use meters are most cost-effective to use in areas that have just a few parking spots.

Austin is now the first city in the country to have pay stations and single-space meters that take credit cards.

To view how to use the new meters click here.