ParkMagic, the company that manufacturers an in-car parking meter system of the same name, is in talks with the City of Evanston.

The ParkMagic system was tested by 1000 initial users here in Chicago to allegedly rave reviews. But full blown adoption of the system here has been on hold pending the parking meter lease plan being finalized these past few weeks.

For lack of a better comparison, ParkMagic units are like I-Pass for parking meters. The units allow you to pay by cell phone at the meter or even remotely if you are running late getting back to the meter.

While ParkMagic now still needs to get the go ahead full bore with their program from the new owners of Chicago’s parking meter system, Chicago Parking Meter LLC, Evanston seems to be moving toward embracing this technology.

It seems that a few Evanston residents who already have a ParkMagic unit from Chicago, have been gently pressing Evanston officials to at least consider adopting the system there.

“Evanston very much likes the idea,” said ParkMagic USA Director of Operations Jim O’Connell. “We’ve been talking to Evanston for a while and the Director of Parking likes it.”

If Chicago can finally get the chance to adopt ParkMagic, it would make a lot of sense for Evanston to use the system as well. Many Evanston residents work in Chicago and many Chicagoans routinely shop or do business in Evanston. It would be like one large geographic parking system with one universal payment method.