I have noticed that in our town, there are several parking places designated for drivers with some physical handicap. These spots are the prime, close spaces and should make it at least slightly less inconvenient for those people to park and get to their destination. I have also noticed that many of these spaces do not have parking meters. I suppose it sounds petty, but I don’t know why parking should be free for those people. Is this some sort of federal policy, or would it more likely be some local option?
Parking fees are not so much for revenue (parking tickets are another subject), it’s to light a fire under your butt so you get your shit done and to get you to free that spot for someone else ASAP. With this reasoning it is not reasonable to expect someone with a handicap to be under the same time constraint.
Wut??
If meters were not for revenue, they would use parking discs like in Germany. They are most certainly used to generate revenue. Cities make tens of milluons of dollars from parking meters.
https://www.parkingpanda.com/blog/post/top-10-cities-with-highest-revenues-from-parking-violations
Even a small city can rake in 6 figures a month.
Even if this were true, and I question both premises, then a reasonable accommodation would be to put more time on those meters, not simply remove them.
10 years ago, parking meters in downtown Vancouver were 25 cents for three minutes, $5 an hour. That’s $40 for an 8 hour day.
In California if you have a handicap placard it is not necessary to put money in a parking meter.
Ditto. In case people don’t know what you mean, what I have seen in Italy is a little plastic clock (a fake one like the kind that stores put in the door to say “Be back at…”). You set the hands to show what time you parked, and you are ticketed if you stay past the time limit. There is a harsh penalty if your clock is found to be set later than the current time.
If there were adequate handicapped-accessible public transportation pretty much anywhere, then I might agree with you, but there isn’t. Mobility-impaired people don’t have a lot of options for getting around.
Not necessarily. It could just be that we don’t have parking meters like that to buy from anyone or paying is less likely to result in shenanigans.
A few businesses in my town that were next to one another had petitions and were asking customers to sign it. They wanted the town to install short-term parking meters on their street because it was a busy street that was hard to find parking on. People would park long term, and if one was driving by and there was a parking spot they might stop and get that roast beef at the deli. If not, they might drive by and go somewhere else.
Of course I’m not suggesting the reason is never for revenue directly from the meter, but revenue from businesses being profitable may be more important to local government in some areas.
I guess my view is if you’re handicapped you can have the primo spots, but there’s no justification for them to be free.
The justification is that the public trasnport options that are available to other people aren’t as readily available to you, and it’s a bit rich to make you pay for parking when we’ve already set up matters so as to leave you little choice but to drive your car.
There’s also very little justification for them to charge when it’s expected that people using those spots may be there for longer than average.
And I agree with kancibird that the main purpose of parking meters is to ensure turnover in congested areas so that local business patrons have a place to park. The revenue doesn’t hurt, but if people didn’t need to park there to shop those spots wouldn’t be in demand. With sufficient handicapped spaces, that’s not an issue for those spots. If turnover is the goal, there’s less incentive for turnover on the HC spots.
I will gladly pay, if you will take my knees and feet and live with that.
Here in Maryland you don’t have to pay even if there are meters. Better still, tow trucks can’'t tow your car.
The fee is you are Handicapped. Life ain’t fair. Get used to it.
The small city I grew up in had parking meters in the downtown area up until the mid-1980’s. It was a penny for 12 minutes or 5 cents an hour. Parking was free after 1800 and on weekends and holidays. I’d estimate that there was maybe 300 spots. If every spot was used continually for the 12 hours they were mandated that would be $180 a day and roughly $45K a year. Subtract the amount they paid the trio of meter maids the police department had and there wasn’t much left. A violation ticket, BTW, was $2.
Right around the time they raised the rate to 25 cents for 12 minutes and the fines to $10 the big box stores came to town and the downtown area started dying. The city wisely got rid of all the meters and it worked. The downtown area perked up.
“Primo” parking spots AND free parking for people struggling with mobility? Why, the very idea! What’s next, no tax on porridge for orphans? Free camps for disabled kids?
actually the city might be dodging an ADA lawsuit
this reminds me of the tounge in cheek rant abut the lamborgini with disabled plates in the handicapped space …that had a 40 page response ….
although this belongs in ihmo or the pit ………
In the UK, spaces are normally free for disabled drivers, even if the the allocated spaces are full and they have to park in a regular spot. Private car parks may charge.
Those with disability badges can also park on double yellow lines without restriction as long as they are not causing an obstruction.