The 'sex meter' is a machine that allows sex workers to pay their tax via a meter - much like a parking meter in the US - and the effort to make prostitutes and sex workers pay 'their fair share' has been declared a success after the project, rolled out in August, brought in over $326,000 in tax revenues, a goodly portion of which came from the meters.

The sex meters are located at "erotic centers" in an industrial area near the center of Bonn where prostitutes solicit customers. Prostitutes and sex workers must pay a certain amount into the meters just to work the streets, whether they get any customers or not, says the report.

Prostitution in German is legal: the 'sex meters' simply issue a receipt that the sex worker is required to carry while walking the streets, picking up customers, or else pay a hefty fine for not having gotten their receipt.

In addition to the Siemens-built meter machine - a converted parking meter - which cost $11,575 including installation, the city has built special wooden garages or 'performance areas' nearby where customers can park their cars and have sex.

Under the new meter system, street prostitutes must purchase the tickets to work between the hours of 8:15 p.m. and 6 a.m. Leaflets explaining the system, translated into several languages, are handed out to the prostitutes. After one warning, a sex worker caught working without a ticket would be fined up to $145. Read more here

Here is a video news clip about the German sex meters!