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Top off Your Parking Meter with a Cell Call
dstone writes "Vancouver, Canada has just become the first major city in North America to allow motorists to feed their parking meters with their cell phone. Drivers call a number on each meter, the system recognizes them by Caller ID, they enter how many minutes they want, and that's it. The system sends them a reminder text message before their time is up and they can extend their time remotely. The catch? The company contracted to provide the service, Verrus, makes their money through a 30-cent 'convenience fee.' Less pockets full of change, less parking tickets, seems like a step forward."
This scheme seems like a bullshit technological antisolution that would only make the current street parking situation worse,
Verrus operate a similar system at the council car parks in York, England. It's great - finding the change was always a pain!
:)
They get the number of your cell phone from caller ID and store your vehicle registration plate and credit card details against it the first time you call. The next time you call you just tell it how many hours you want and enter the 4 digit code for the car park you are using. For an extra 10p you can get a reminder SMS. You are also free to call again and extend the parking.
If you don't have your cell phone with you then you can use any phone, and just tap in your cell number and the PIN number you set the first time you called. You also use that PIN if you want to change credit card or vehicle registration numbers.
The wardens have machines that have details of the electronically issued tickets on them, so they don't clamp you
It's still $15 in Brookline.
Sometimes I feel like +1 Reasonable should exist.
I paid for my parking like this 2 years ago in Vancouver.
...
And you still didn't get a ticket?
You must have an expensive cell phone bill
But, it is mostly new to the US, I guess. I think Japan had it quite a long time ago, just like how with DoCoMo you can pay for vending machine purchases with your cell phone since at least the early 90s.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
The $300 fine is for businesses, like paper shredding companies. General public would have a $40 fine.
The City of Calgary is also going with catching drivers who stay at the meter too long.
There's also talk of using a similar parking meter system as described in TFA.
Vip
They have a solution to this in many European cities:
Wheelclamps.
To Mr RichBastard, paying a fine is no deterrent. Mr RichBastard having to wait an hour or two for the guys with the wheel clamp keys is gonna re-think his parking strategy.
Especially when they (purposely) take their time coming to unclamp you.
Sparks:Gadget:Beer Maker
Oh what joy to get towed in Boston and only pay $100
/ parking/controlledparkingzones/incorrect.cfm and this is the deal:
Come to London http://www.westminster.gov.uk/transportandstreets
Initial fine £100 (US$182) This is discounted by 50% if you pay within 14 days
Not long after being ticketed you are likely to be clamped and the release fee is £65
And then they will tow you for only an additional £165
That adds up to £330 ($500) and somehow there always seems to be an extra charge - and that does not count the damage done to your car. If you are a stranger driving in London be afraid, be very afraid!
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada has been using a private company to manage the cell phone payment for parking in public areas of the city starting in October 21, 2005. For more information please see link below...
i neering/parking_services/index.asp
http://www.city.saskatoon.sk.ca/org/municipal_eng
The companies website can be see at:
http://www.new-parking.com/
Qybix
Qybix ----- I do not have a belief system; I'm an Anti-theist and proud of it! Saying that not believing in anything i
We have had TXT-a-Park for a while here in NZ - http://www.vodafone.co.nz/promos/txt-a-park/txt_a_ park.jsp?item=txt_a_park
They charge a 50c transaction fee which is pretty steep, especially when you are only paying $3.50 for the actual parking. Having the system txt you when your parking is almost up and email receipts is a great idea which I wish they would implement here.
[Please type your sig here.]
No, it just means that you are using a parking spot for more than its original intended time period. The whole point of parking meters is to provide short term rotating parking that many people can use throughout the day. By forcing you to go back to the actual meter to pay, it makes you be more efficient at running errands downtown.
Now, putting simple economics into play, one event might eventually result of these types of meters. If I work downtown, I can either 1) pay $20 to park in a garage, or 2) tap a button on my phone every couple of hours to pay for parking. #2 even done 8 times a day is $2.40 in 'convenience' fees plus say $0.25 per hour. So ballpark at $5 for the whole parking day. Now, no one would use a garage, opting instead to park on the street - it's cheaper. People complaing about everyone using spots for 8-10 hours a day. Result: $0.25 per hour turns into $2.00 - $3.00 per hour. Suddenly, a convenience for some turns into a 1000% hike in prices for everyone else.
Lol. This feature has been used in Estonia for years now. Nobody made any international news about it then.
Wow, this whole thread is interesting, I've never heard of 'time limits' on public parking...much less having a cop use chalk in some way to mark your tires to see if you moved or not...I take it this is more of a NE US coastal thing?
No, it's all over the US. In the South, I've seen it in Raleigh, Fayetteville, and Atlanta.
The issue is that metered parking is there for people to, say, go out and get lunch or a haircut or whatever. If you're an employee who's going to be there all day, parking a block or two away isn't a huge deal.
Normally areas are marked "2 hour parking" or whatever. The traffic cops come around and mark the tire treads (_not_ the sides of the tires--they want the chalk in a spot where it wears off as soon as the car moves) with chalk periodically, and if they come back and see a car they'd previously marked has been there for over 2 hours they ticket.
I'd lived in areas that did it for _years_ before someone pointed it out to me.
rage, rage against the dying of the light
Croatia have that "feature" for years! In almost all towns in Croatia you can pay your parking with cell phone.
Vlatko Kosturjak - Kost
...many places you can swipe your credit card when you leave your car, and swipe it again when you come back. Very convenient. Alternatively, you can pay with coins.