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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."
So do you trade parking meter stickers with Lexus guy then?
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
If,
I'm not way off-track one of the purposes of a parking meter is the annoyance feature. Keeps a set of rich guys from pumping quarters in it all day long without any negative consequences for them.
This tech enables that sort of behavior.
And then the poor slobs get to walk a half a mile just to get to the courthouse.....
Caution: Contents under pressure
So does this mean that every city in Canada will be able to use a different service provider?
While it would be feasible to maintain an account with several providers in different cities, it seems like a government-sponsered portal would make more sense than required accounts to be created directly on the company site. Maybe this won't be an issue since most of one's parking would be in one city; just a thought.
zachwalker.net
Granted, there are some instances when this would be nice, but I think most people would use it because they are just plan lazy. Convenience, less exercise, and more food has made this nation very plump.
Also, why would a city want to risk losing that much revenue from all those tickets?
I thought repeat metering (constantly plugging the meter) was prohibited?
One of the major reasons we have meters in the city I live in (TacosCornhole, ND) was to promote high turnover parking in the urban areas - to make it more convenent for shoppers and the like.
My nuts smell like WD40.
Beat 'Em and Eat 'Em
Sounds like a good idea on the surface, but how many transactions do you need to rack up for this system to pay for itself?
i find the free refills and mixable drinks pretty convenient...
Why the scare quotes around convenience fees? Is the submitter implying that the cell phone company should graciously provide this service for free? Or perhaps the fee isn't really a fee?
Either way, editorializing in the summary is silly.
I find it convenient to not have to wait in line for a refill of my drink as I am leaving, but maybe I'm just strange.
1) It bills to your credit card
2) I don't have a credit card
3) I don't like The Man tracking my activities, right down to where and when I park
Just a thought.
Skot Nelson music is my saviour / i was maimed by rock and roll
"McDonaldsisation" is actually what I've heard that referred to. And it's not limited to your soft drink :
- You get your cutelery yourself
- You get straws yourself
- You clear up after yourself (disposing in the trash
And then on a wider levels
- At the coffee shop, your add your own extra (milk, sugar, etc.)
- At the supermarket you collect your own groceries (compare this to the grocers at the market, or of the '40s and '50s)
- You server yourself gas (if you're not in NJ)
However, these are by no means negative. You get to choose exactly what you want, prices are cheaper and queues are shortened.
Wellington, NZ implemented this a while back. I knew one of the IT guys involved. They were happy to get paid for doing the work, but they were sure it wouldn't be a success. After all, who would pay extra for this? Much to his surprise, it's been very successful.
I do believe this will completely change the parking scene in Vancouver. Anyone who has been downtown and tried to park there knows it is impossible. This means that now, for sure, anyone who gets there first will be there all day. Previously spaces opened up due to people running out of change and leaving or people getting towed. This would also be a good method of topping up at the various Impark parking lots in Calgary and Edmonton. I almost always underestimate the time I need, I think everyone does.
Of course, Impark won't do this since it makes more money giving tickets than selling parking space. They are vultures! The ticket is already written up by the time you have 1-minute left, just in case.
The article explains this is the first major city in North America to do this. Not to mention this is in CANADA. I think you have Canada confused with the United States with your comment.
The Man probably doesn't care about temporary parking vs. garage parking. If anything, the Man will encourage more use of temporary (aka parking meter) parking. Meters, when in use, make more money than parking garages. If the Man can keep the metered spaces full, it means more money for governmental projects.
and with all that put on the customer, some actually have the balls to leave out a tip jar.
Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
If it was strictly for get in/out quickly, wouldn't they just paint the curb green with a "XX minute parking" label on it?
Don't claim you're anti-establishment as some sort of justification of your con jobs. Your actions are the ones driving companies to do the shit they do.
What does the Convienience Island have to do with you stealing shit? Your attempts to justify your behavior as a result of some corporations actions are ridiculous. You are still responsible for your actions.
A for the snotty little stab at my perception, at least I can recognize when I 'm being a theiving douchebag. If you want to really vote with your dollar, your gonna have to go without.
Your popcorn wasn't subsidized by advertising at the movie theater. The advertising was put there to create a new revenue stream becuase the theaters were losing money. Probably because a large amount of people justify their deceitful behavior with some sort of magic logic where they are the good guy screwing over the evil corporation.
You are a factor buddy, face it.
What if I spoof my caller ID, which is relatively easy to do? Will I be able to charge all my parking fees to my coworker's/neighbor's/friend's/stranger's phone bill? Unless they have cameras at each parking meter recording the license plate numbers of cars parked there, how will they track me down before the victim receives their cell phone bill for the month?
Also, can I do a "chargeback"? What if I charge up my phone bill with parking fees, and dispute the charges at the end of the month?
Thief? Give me a break.
Well the popcorn refills where I worked at were "same visit only"... but I'd say about 75% of the people who got popcorn refills were bringing in bags that were clearly from weeks ago (sometimes they'd have movies on the bag from a year ago). Honestly, we the employees didn't much care and just gave them the refill. The managers only sort of cared.
I actually was really annoyed by an AMC employee a few months ago. I was buying tickets for me and a friend... and I got the student discount on mine, but she refused to give me a discount on the other one, too. So I just bought one and then went to a different counter to buy another student ticket. But she saw me and made a big fuss about it saying "Don't sell him a student ticket! He just bought one from me!"
She didn't HAVE to go out of her way to make a fuss about it. But she did.
It was ridiculous to me, because that ticket money (which was still about $6.50 or more) wasn't even going to them, it was going to the movie studios and MPAA. Plus, I just don't know how she could care so much to be such a dick to me about it... she's only making minimum wage, and this is likely going to be the worst job she ever has. Back in my day at the movie theater I wouldn't have cared. And usually, most people who work there don't care, and just give you the student discount even if you don't show them your college ID. But oh no, not her. She took her job SERIOUSLY.
And by the way, how irritating of you to be the kind of guy who goes out of his way to report people who are getting popcorn refills from past days... do you have no happiness in your life?
I can imagine being the guy behind the counter, knowing full well this guy's popcorn bag is old, but being nice enough to refill it anyway so he can enjoy a movie and be happy. Then along comes another customer (in this case, you) making a big fuss about how this guy is a thief and how you know his popcorn bag is old, etc. It really doesn't make anyone's day better.
Sweet!
Now one just has to find a phone no. of someone who has used the service, and make a spoofed-caller-ID call using that phone no. to add time to any meter they want!
Free parking, anyone?
In theory, meter parking is designed to make sure that parking is temporary... but in reality, it is simply a revenue grab by the city. It is just not polite for the government to say "WE WANT MORE MONEY!!!! GIVE US MORE MONEY!!!", so every tax/fee needs a respectable sounding reason to exist.
There are other examples of this:
1. If they REALLY wanted to curb speeding, they would make all speeding tickets be for $10,000 and 30 days in jail, and speeding would stop overnight! Speeding fines are calculated to be as high as possible, without actually detering speeding, in order to maximize profits.
2. Same thing with cigarette tax: Presumably they want to discourage smoking - but if they wanted to do that they could place a huge tax on cigarettes, maybe $50 per pack or something. The trouble with that, is that everyone would quit smoking if they had to pay $50+ a pack. So they make the cigarette tax as high as possible without actually discouraging smoking, to maximize profits.
If you want the government to actually discourage behavior, the last thing you want the government to do is make a profit from that behavior. That is why all the brothel owners in Nevada are trying to get the state to pass a special extra-high prostitution tax - they know that once the government gets used to having that money, they won't want to give it up and therefore prostitution will always remain legal! The best way to make sure something will last forever is to give the government a cut of the profits!