Des Moines will install 30 new “double space” parking meters downtown starting this week.

The new meters are scheduled to be installed in the vicinity of the Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield building, which stands between High Street, Grand Avenue, 12th Street and 13th Street. Two or three meters also will be installed on East Sixth Street in the East Village.

Each unit will take up the space of one conventional meter but do the work of two.

The city of Des Moines expects the overall cost for metering two parking spaces to be reduced by 40 percent. The new meters will work with change or Smart Cards. The city plans to use the new type of meter as it replaces old meters in the future.

A test meter was installed in the 900 block of Locust Street in September, and the city has received no questions or complaints about the operation of the meter, a city press release said.