The Parking Meter Turns 75 Today 126
nj_peeps writes "75 years ago Carl Magee filed a patent application for what would become one of the most hated inventions in history: the parking meter. From the article: 'Magee's brainwave was to install a device that had a coin acceptor and a dial to engage a timing mechanism. A visible pointer and flag indicated the expiration of the paid period, meaning you either had to move, put in more money, or face the wrath of the local constabulary. The design continued largely unchanged for more than 40 years.'"
Anyone got any coins? Please? (Score:2, Interesting)
They won't accept pennies. 99% accept only coins. San Francisco is talking about 7 day a week
parking meter enforcement, Many at $3 per hour (or more?). And in San Francisco the
collection/enforcement departments spend more money than the meters take in! Net loss.
Not a fan, but.... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Why is this in YRO? (Score:3, Interesting)
Parking shouldn't be free, we already subsidize driving enough as it is without allowing people the unlimited ability to park their private property on public land, as long as they would like. Make them pay for the privilege, it's part of the "privilege" (not right) of driving.
I also enjoy the turnover parking meters create, ensuring that most of the time when I need to run an errand downtown and have to drive, I can find a spot with minimal trouble.
Re:Not a fan, but.... (Score:3, Interesting)
Meter feeding is supposed to be against the rules just about everywhere there's parking meters, but enforcement can very considerably. The really strict places don't count on catching you feeding more coins in--they'll chalk mark your tires to track how long you've been there, and ticket you if you're over the max time even if you have time on the meter.
To keep spaces open for customers (Score:3, Interesting)
So, taxes pay for the roads, the sidewalks, etc. If you pay taxes, and you park where these fucking abominations are, then you get the pleasure of paying another tax
Do you use the same complaint against toll roads?
I'm assuming there was no vote when these things were put into play?
Imagine that you run a coffee shop. You want your customers to use the space in front of the shop while in the shop, and you don't want someone who works across the street to hog the space for 8 hours straight. So to keep the spaces open for customers, you restrict parking time to how long it takes to buy and consume coffee and a sandwich.
Ah...city revenue in a box... (Score:3, Interesting)
And as nice and selfless as that was, that hurt the city income enough that they made a local ordinance against filling other people's meters. They even tried to ticket him more than once. Then they started chalk marking tires to see if they went past a certain time and ticketed them anyway. Just another reason I grew up to be the anti-tax, anti-government program person I am today.
Re:Hated, but necessary (Score:0, Interesting)
According to Rick Berman, absolutely nothing ;) Slashdot's just leading the way to a better future for everyone. Once we get rid of financial incentives we will have our flying cars in no time, baby.
Re:Hated, but necessary (Score:5, Interesting)
Where I live(that mystical place called Canada), they figured out that it cost businesses more money if there were meters then 2hr free parking, along with 15min errand spots. When we switched from meters to non, business downtown went up by 40%, and so did the available tax revenue.
Re:Hated, but necessary (Score:3, Interesting)
Vancouver City Council is actually deciding to extend the parking meter hours to include Sunday as well. Turns out that the meters get moderated traffic, but on Sunday, it becomes a royal PITA to find a parking spot, short of paying at a parking garage.
Good and bad, it seems. Parking meters help encourage short term high-turnover parking, which businesses do like. The flip side is, well, potential loss of customers for those adverse to paying. Free parking, and you get stores angry that some employee working upstairs parked right in front of their store during most of the day, rotating every couple of hours or so.
It's a tough call for a city planner.