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April 14, 2010 By Russell Nichols
In Washington, D.C., the city parking nightmare has residents clamoring for change. Many objected when the parking rates went up from $1 to $2 an hour last year, and backlash has been building against Mayor Adrian Fenty's recent proposal to increase parking fees even more (to $3 an hour in some areas) to help close budget gaps.
But perhaps no complaints rang louder than those from residents who had to deal with the city's raggedy, old coin-fed parking meters. Washington, D.C., has more than 12,000 single-space meters, most of which have been around for more than a decade. And in fiscal 2009, drivers who were sick of battling broken meters and carrying coins complained to the city an amazing 142,000 times, according to Washington, D.C.'s District Department of Transportation (DDOT). In the past few months, the DDOT has been exploring a number of innovative technological advances in parking management, such as solar-powered meters and in-car metering systems.
"The biggest complaint that we receive from a customer service standpoint is about parking meters," said John Lisle, spokesman for the DDOT. "A lot of that is because our inventory for single-space meters is outdated. We have been in the process of replacing them. We're really trying different methods to improve the parking experience for residents and motorists in the city."
The latest pilot is a pay-by-phone parking program, which launched Monday, April 12. To enroll in the program, drivers must set up a free account at paybyphone.com (or call 888-510-PARK) and provide their mobile phone number, license plate and credit card number. Once signed up, the driver pays to park by calling the toll-free number, entering the location and desired time, and the total will be charged to the credit card.
Drivers can choose to set up text message alerts when time is winding down, or call from any phone to add meter time. DDOT launched this cashless payment option as a three-month pilot at 700 parking spaces, with service provided by Verrus Mobile Technologies.
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Yeah, as a tourist I used this pay by credit card system in July 2011. I called the number, paid for 2 hours parking on my credit card and went sightseeing. When I returned in 1 hour 45 minutes I had received a ticket. I called to let them know I had paid by phone. No can do; must send in letter I was told. Ok, so I sent in a written letter stating my parking meter had been paid by credit card. I received a letter back stating pay this ticket as the parking meter was not broken. Ok, so I paid the $25.00 fine plus a $10.00 appeal fee (for the princple of it all). No luck, no response from anyone after that. In the end, I have paid over $40.00 for two hours of parking. Do you think I will ever use this pay by phone again??!!!
I hear ya loud and clear, same thing happened to me. I parked in F st. this Aug to watch a movie premiere, and when I walked back to my car received a parking ticket. It stated, I had parked in front of an entrance, even though my car was next to a tree in a Pay to Park zone. I appealed and now got this letter to pay the fine and fee.