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."

Comments

Wrong Number?

[Shadow Wrought]

So do you trade parking meter stickers with Lexus guy then?

Re:Wrong Number?

[Nogami_Saeko]

I think you're thinking of private lots (where this has been available for years). This is the first roll-out that covers all of the coin-meters on the sides of the street.

It seems like a good idea, however the cynical side of me also wonders that if in addition text messaging the owner of the vehicle when the payment is about to expire, it might also be text messaging the parking enforcement officer for the area to keep an eye out in areas with lots of meters that are expiring at the same time so they know where to concentrate their "efforts"...

It would also be nice if they could do this as a straight text message by phone instead of by voice. Could be a lot faster...

N.

Kinda defeats a parking meter feature

[OYAHHH]

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.....

Re:Kinda defeats a parking meter feature

[admdrew]

i have [sic] him holy hell about vandilizing my car..

it was all in good fun though..

Congrats, asshole. Way to ruin a guy's day while he was doing his job. We've all been pissed about parking tickets, but the onus is on the owner of the car to make sure the meter is paid, not the person in charge of writing tickets. Why should you expect leniency from a cop who probably has to do that all day? To him, your car is no more important than the thousands of others out there.

Re:Kinda defeats a parking meter feature

[Bookswinters]

Inconvenience is a major feature of parking meters, as they are largely designed to dissuade people from parking curbside long term. Case in point, check out these parking meter fees near Times Square in New York:

1 hour: $2; 2 hours: $5; 3 hours: $9

Notice how the pricing is scaled to deter long term parking. These machines DO NOT TAKE BILLS, so you must carry huge amounts of quarters with you.

Conclusion: If cell phone payment methods become widespread in the US, I expect either sharp rate increases or maximum time limits before you must return to the machine to compensate for the removal of inconvenience.

Re:Kinda defeats a parking meter feature

[toleraen]

the laws are becoming more and more rigid (mandatory life sentences, etc).

You're blaming the freakin' meter maid for mandatory life sentences?! While I agree that the police might be given more rights than they should, you're talking about the person that's hired to make sure your dumbass is fairly paying for general road repairs! What, do you blame the janitor for having to wash your hands after taking a crap at work?

more lazy people

[jtaylor00]

Less pockets full of change, less parking tickets more people too lazy to walk down the street and burn off that big mac to put more change in the meter.

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?

Re:"Convenience" fees! Heh.

[preppypoof]

i find the free refills and mixable drinks pretty convenient...

Scare quotes

[kevin_conaway]

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.

Re:Scare quotes

[bunions]

being able to put more time on your parking meter without running out to the curb in the rain sounds pretty fucking convenient to me. I pay a fee for convenience. Therefore it is a convenience fee. I don't see how this is confusing for anyone.

Uh huh. Except...

[penguinstorm]

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.

Re:Uh huh. Except...

[5KVGhost]

"I don't like The Man tracking my activities, right down to where and when I park"

You're concerned about The Man knowing where you park your registered motor vehicle, license plate clearly visible as required by law, on a public street? As you enter and exit your vehicle in public view. Yep, that's some highly sensitive and privileged information right there.

It's about the money

[ezratrumpet]

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.

Re:"Convenience" fees! Heh.

[Irish_Samurai]

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.

Re:"Convenience" fees! Heh.

[vistic]

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.