Just curious. Does anyone know which the average town/city makes more money from? The meters it seems to me have a pretty constant intake, but of small amounts. One fine, on the other hand can often be more than it would cost someone to park in the spot for a whole day based on the metered rate. Of course, that’s assuming the fine actually gets paid.
So which one is more of a cash cow for the municipality - the coins from the meter or the fines for not paying the meter?
I can’t answer the question in general but I know here in Seattle they had the best of both worlds – the meters were systematically set to run fast, expiring before the paid-for time actually elapsed. When the city was caught at it they decided no general remedy was required since proof of its effect on any one individual was too difficult to obtain, and the general effect was too difficult to measure. (Yeah, right.) They did agree to adjust the meters. At their leisure.
I can’t imagine them making too much money off of tickets as I don’t see many people getting them. but I do remember in Baltimore that some of the meters ran fast. I never got a ticket or anything but they had a maximum of 4 hours and I came back once after 3 and only had a couple of minutes left. that happened a couple of times a few years ago, haven’t had it happen since.
Gazoo, my apologies for the hijack, but since the topic is hovering around parking meter scams, I thought I’d chime in with a story until someone shows up with your answer.
In NYC the entire downtown has unused low-pressure fire hydrants that are no longer operational. (Of course there are working high-pressure ones too, so it’s not like there’s no way to put out fires downtown.) These defunct, dry hydrants are easy to spot because their design is different from the working ones. Trouble is, the city does not let you park in front of one – even though they don’t work! Yes, they will ticket you. And yes, the ticket will hold up in court.
The city says it’s been removing them, but it’s been saying that for at least five years now. Talk about a racket!