Parking Ticket.

Man, I’m miffed.

I parked my car in New Haven today. The parking spot in question had a busted meter. Honestly, I didn’t think anything of it. In Boston you are allowed to park at broken meters without punishment. I presumed the same would be true of New Haven.

Turns out, this is not the case. I came back to find a ticket on my vehicle. I looked at said ticket and it said “parking violation. comments: broken meter” zwa?

Fun fact: In the City of New Haven, if a meter is broken that spot can no longer be used for parking.

Extra fun fact:
When it comes to parking in spots with broken meters…
Los Angeles, Houston, Denver, and Seattle = Tickets.
NY, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and D.C = No Tickets.

source 1, source 2, source 3

Unfortunately, I must concede that for New Haven, this is a decent rule. Parking meter vandalism to avoid fees is very likely a significant problem that any city has to deal with. In general I can see how this could warrant a rule like this one. Secondly, a single broken meter in an area of plenty of parking could result in a decrease in revenue if people purposefully parked in these spots – in my case, there were other spots available that I could have used. I think that’s what differentiates Boston from New Haven. In Boston, a lost space is a very big deal. In New Haven… eh. If the law is implemented correctly, one might be able to use this rule as a test for general availability of parking in a particular city.

Despite the admitted guilt and earned respect for an unknown law, I’m still bummed that I have to fork over $20.

One thought on “Parking Ticket.

  • 10/14/2011 at 8:46 am
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    That is lame. If a city can’t even keep it’s parking meters in operation, they should suffer the economic penalty that is not getting the $2 in quarters, not enforce a little-known law to get a $20 fine.

    I’d say this is a revenue generation tactic, not a revenue loss prevention tactic. The purpose of parking meters isn’t to make money (if that were the case they’d charge more than $1/hour), it’s to prevent people from parking on the street for extended periods of time. Which is compromised by having a broken meter, but the issuance of $20 tickets for it doesn’t stop people from parking there all day, it just makes them more money. That’s lame. Q.E.D.

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