Parking Meter Days Are Numbered
If you live in a town or smaller city that still embodies old-school charm, you are most likely using coin-operated parking meters to pay for the privilege of leaving your vehicle in a specific spot between the hours of 9 am to 5 pm. A dime for five minutes, what a bargain. As trivial as this amount is, how many of us thought we could sneak by without paying, or by putting in the minimum amount, only to find a parking ticket on our windshield? Busted! Reflective on your city’s bylaws, you can end up paying $30 or more for this offense.
What are some common bylaw infractions?
- Allow a vehicle to remain at an expired meter
- Allow a vehicle to remain parked at meter in excess of the maximum permitted time indicated on the meter
- Park a vehicle outside of the space designated for each metered space
The city I live in has recently informed its citizens that they will soon be replacing some of our parking lot meters with new multi-space machines. The city will start replacing the machines this summer, with a soft launch target date of late summer or early fall to turn on the system. We will have a blend of both meters; leaving all of the existing single-space parking meters out on the street and putting in the multi-space meters in the locations where they are needed. There are different kinds of multi-space machines (MSM), pay-by-license, or pay-by-space. We’ll be implementing the pay-by-license option in our city.
The new system will bring our city into the 21st century with modern parking technologies plus it’s intended to establish consistent parking control. So, if you’re sick of scrounging for change, then you’ll love this new system. Now customers would walk to the MSM, punch in their license plate number, and choose a payment method. There won’t be any receipt issued for display on your dashboard; this will be a thing of the past. Plus, customers will be able to move around within a particular zone; ah, wiggle room. And the budget for this new parking system? A cool 2 million dollars!
And so, as the parking meter goes the way of the phone booth, I’ll say farewell with mixed feelings.