My local Metro (subway) station has a parking lot with all metered spaces. I usually take the bus there from my house but occasionally I’ll drive there and park in the lot. This is usually always on weekends so it’s not necessary to feed the meters.
However when I recently parked there on a weekday evening so my GF and I could go downtown for a show, we stared at the sign for at least 10 minutes and could not figure out what it meant. It reads:
Kiss & Ride parking spaces available between 8:30 am - 3:30 pm and 7 pm - 2 am. Section D available from 10 am - 2 am @ $1.00 per 60 mins.
There are cars parked here, in all sections, all day; I see cars here in the morning before 830AM when I take the bus in, and there are cars here when I am coming home, about 530PM. None of these cars are ticketed, and their meters are still running.
What the fuck does that sign mean?
Do you encounter any indecipherable signs around you?
I thought the whole point of Kiss and Ride was that you didn’t use a parking space. Maybe they mistakenly put “Kiss & Ride” where it should have been “Park & Ride.” Or put “parking spaces” where they should have said “Kiss & Ride Zone.”
It means “no parking in the drop-off area during rush hour” and something about Section D. Without seeing the layout of the subway station in question, I couldn’t tell you whether that makes sense or not.
I believe the northwestern part of the lot is “Section D,” the longest row are the “Kiss & Ride” spaces, and the single row of spaces at the easternmost side are temporary “idling” spaces. There is an elevator to the platform lined up to the “Kiss & Ride” row, and the main station entrance is a bit to the south.
What’s also odd is the meters all have a 7-hour limit. How the fuck is that useful for anyone who’s parking there and commuting to work an 8 hour day?!
Its not useful. That is the point. They don’t want you parking there all day, the lot isn’t big enough. It is just there for transfers from busses and “Kiss & Ride”.
The “kiss and ride” part itself seems pretty indecipherable to me. Reserved for Gene Simmons?
Around here the last year or so they’ve been putting up a lot of red arrows on the traffic lights. Problem is, they never bothered to tell anyone what the hell a red arrow means. Eventually I was able to suss it out, but first few times I ran across one it was pretty indecipherable.
The “Kiss and Ride” thing threw me for a second, but TBG may I ask where you live that red arrows are unusual? I thought it would be pretty clear, don’t turn in the direction of the arrow while it’s red. Once it’s off and either a green arrow or full green light comes on, you’re good to go.
Yellow and certain red traffic light arrows confused me at first, when I first began to see them. But this was, like, . . . 35 years ago or so?
The RIGHT-POINTING red arrow means you cannot turn right, not even after coming to a full stop. This wasn’t obvious to me at first, until I found the rule written up somewhere. (No, I never got a ticket for it, but I could have, a few times.)
The latest new-fangled traffic light, just becoming more common these days, is the left-pointing flashing yellow arrow. I think it means you may turn left when on-coming traffic is clear, but that on-coming cars don’t have a red light and aren’t going to stop so you can make your left turn. I haven’t seen them in California yet myself, but I’ve heard of them here, and I saw some in Oregon last year.
ETA: In California, we still have doghouse style traffic lights quite commonly.
We don’t have the red arrows here in the Cleveland area, and the few times I’ve encountered them elsewhere I thought they meant you COULD turn while the arrow was lit after stopping.
I would interpret your signage to mean that parking is allowed in the spots designated for kiss and ride during the off-peak hours, but you’d better not park there during drop off/ pick up times. And is lot D closer to the station? Sounds like they want to keep that for people who commute outside of peak times so they will have a chance at getting a space?
My favorite indecipherable signage said “PARK POLICE SNOWMOBILES HERE ONLY”. I think there are at least 11 possible meanings, because “park” could refer to parking a snowmobile or it could mean a recreational location, and because “only” could be modifying any of the other four words or sequential combinations except for combinations that use “park” as a verb.
Near Frederick MD, at a place where two lanes become one, is a sign that says “Alternate Merge.” The first five times I went through there I interpreted alternate as an adjective and couldn’t figure out what it meant. Finally I realized it was a verb: right-lane guy must merge, then left-lane guy must merge, alternating.
