It’s not the same thing. When you put money into a stranger’s expired meter, you don’t know if that person had stayed for only part of the allowed time or the entire allowed time. In Boston, most meters are 2 hours and it’s illegal to stay longer than 2 hours. You have to not only change spaces but it has to be a space on a different block. If you have put 1 hour of quarters in your own meter and then want to put another hour in, that’s fine. If you put in 2 hours of quarters and now the 2 hours are up and you put more money in your meter, you are likely going to get a ticket since the meter police keep a log of the cars on the block. Since you can’t know how long the stranger has been parked there, by might be allowing him to stay beyond the allowed time. That’s what is illegal - not the actual act of adding money to the meter.
Wrongo- parking violations are a HUGE income source for many cities- San Jose and San Francisco for two. They made a very large profit- especially as you have no real right to go to court. The company that administers the ticket collection gives you an ‘administrative review’ which consist of a rubber stamp marked 'deneied" and a large red pad. 
It’s not illegal to put more money in the meter (if it’s your car)- but you could get a ticket anyway. Not for “meter expired” but for "exceeding posted parking limits’. But meter maids don’t like to enforce those- it means coming through and “chalking” the tire, and them coming back 2 hours+ later and giving tickets to all still there- money in meters or no. They only want to hand out the “cheat & fast” meter expired ticket.
I carry nickles, and feed the meters whenever i know a meter maid is coming. Good Karma.
Some places, it is.
Yeah, cos the people who can’t get parked because of those who exceed the time limits don’t mind in the slightest. You could let those cars sit there forever as far as they’re concerned.
I’ll never understand people’s attitude about parking restrictions. Everyone must see that in some locations parking is a limited resource. So you’ve got two options; either never be able to get a parking space or have a system to manage it fairly for the benefit of all. But once this is done people moan and do everything to circumvent it. And then expect a pat on the back for doing so!
Hence the meter maid and the chalk on a stick. To make sure the car moved.
Not at all. My putting a couple nickles in just helps the poor hapless dude that is stuck at the check-out, or didn’t check his watch, or whatever. It means that if she threw whatever loose change she had in, and got only 47minutes- I am giving her an extra 10 minutes to get back and move her car or whatever. It does not help those who have exceeded the over-all time limit- you can "feed the meter’ all day, but if the “meter maid” is doing her job right, you’ll still get a ticket for exceeding the maximum posted time for that block (2 hours here).
This is why Palo Alto is so great- they have no meters- but they rigourously enforce the 2 hour limit. They get far less income flow from tickets- but they keep the parking flowing- to the great benefit of retail. And you can see that the Cities like PA that have that sort of parking have thriving Downtown Retail- whereas Cities like SJ have Downtowns that are a retail ghost-town.
Giving out tickets for exceeding the metered time benefits only the cash flow of the Cities general Fund- and the Private Companies that run the citation system for the City- who of course give large campaign contributions, etc.
Actually- in the long run- it HURTS the city’s income as Sales tax revenues are significanly reduced due to the downturn in retail busineses. However, it’s a 'short time fix"- and thus it’s like Crack Cocaine for a City- simple, cheap, and fast. AND bad for it’s health.
Weaning a city off parking meter revenues is like helping your brother get off crack. And it helps those who “whoops, forgot”. It’s good for everyone.
You just don’t understand. There are parking restrictions limited to a specific amount of time, and there’s just paid parking. The nickel fairy is for the latter, not the former.
I don’t remember what city it was, but they did this on an episode of Jackass. One of the guys pranced around in a pink tutu with wings and a magic wand being the meter fairy. A cop made him stop and told him that in that area there was a specific law making it illegal to put money into a parking meter if you’re not parked there.
Had nothing to do with expired time or not, just the fact that it wasn’t your car made it a crime to do that. The cop threatened to arrest him if he didn’t stop (which, I think, is why they did the bit in the first place, knowing it was illegal).
If you think about it, a bunch of people could pay somebody like 25¢ an hour (per car) to do this for their cars and have it be a lot cheaper for them to park there than say paying $5-10/hr in a paid lot. Besides generating revenue the point of a parking meter is to keep the parking short term.
Those two things are separated here. You have a blue card device indicating how long you park somewhere, and there are blue zones limited to 2 hours parking max, where you have to use these.
We don’t have parking meters around here, but last time I checked in a big city, the meters were 25¢ for 15 minutes ($1.00 per hour), and a nearby parking lot was $5.00 for the whole day. The meters are cheaper if you’re parking short term, and the lot is cheaper if you’re parking long term.
I can’t remember the last time I saw meters as cheap as 25¢ per hour, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a parking lot as expensive as $10.00 per hour.
In Nashville, the meters are usually a quarter for 30 minutes. On the meter, it states that parking past the parking meter maximum is illegal. Maximums are usually two hours. So if you fill it up, then come back to put more in, it’s illegal. If you only put one hour worth in, you can add coins.
No idea how they enforce that, except for the chalk on the stick bit.
Resurrecting this zombie because of some relevant news from New Hampshire:
Keene sues six parking meter ‘Robin Hoods’ who put money in expired meters
The group says the suit was filed because the city is losing revenue from parking tickets. The city says the activists are harassing its employees.
The lawsuit does not deny group members’ right to videotape and takes no issue with them filling expired parking meters, but said there is a concern that the three parking enforcement officers will quit.
(yes, I know it’s a zombie.)
I’m actually interested more in the different rationalizations between having time-limited parking (usually 2-hour slots between 8-6 on weekdays) and having parking meters.
In my experience, the 2-hour limit (with no charges) tends to work best for keeping things humming along and moving. Having meters that you have to feed (credit cards or tokens or passes or coins) makes people feel possessive towards “their” spot, and that they have to get every last minute of use out of their money.
Our city and the nearest one both moved to the free 2-hour spots, and it’s been working very well. Our city put up a new parking garage, and people have to pay to park in there if they want to be there for longer periods, or if the street-spots are full, and I think that helps make up the revenue difference.
One funny thing I notice - the 2-hour limit goes away at 6 pm, so you see an awful lot of people roaming around looking for a spot at 4:05, and then staying there for most of the evening. 
In Australia, there are meter maids that do it for you. they look like this
[rant mode]
This is a pet peeve I have about those meters with the “sensors”. When a car leaves a spot, any time remaining on the meter automatically resets to zero. (And I assume that when time expires while a car is still there, a central dispatcher is automatically notified and a meter vampire will be dispatched at once to write it up.)
Og-fucking-dammit, whatever time I buy by putting some coins in a meter, I claim, is MY TIME, BOUGHT AND PAID FOR. If I find a parking spot with some time left from the previous occupant, I like to take advantage of that. And when I leave, it pleases me to bequeath any of MY remaining time to the next occupant. Those robo-meters that take that away are committing outright fraud, as far as I am concerned.
For all the reasons discussed in this thread, parking meters are a vehement pet peeve of mine, sensors or no. I will always drive a few block farther away (where unmetered spaces can usually be found) and walk a little farther, rather than pay into a meter. The laws and enforcement practices surrounding meters are little more than a municipally-run racket.
[/rant mode]
Excellent rant. I hate the things. So did Paul Newman: ImageBam
And yes, the automated meters do indeed squeal on you when they expire or at least they do in our town.
Well, since it has been brought back to life, I’ll add this…
Here in Houston, Texas it seems the city has found a way to prevent ‘meter fairies’. :mad:
(At least, in the Downtown area.)
Houston has installed computerized, Internet connected meters that issue a paper receipt that the user places upon their dashboard, inside of the car. It allows a person to pay in coins, bills or with a CC.
The meters usually ‘control’ 6-8 spots, and will only allow you to park for a specified period of time.
They’re battery operated and equipped with a solar powered battery charger. Ain’t technology wonderful? :rolleyes:
Do parking meters still exist? Our town removed all of them 20 years ago when the businesses complained that they were driving customers out of town. And they were. Parking meters are obsolete unless you are trying to discourage shoppers.
Depends on where you are, really. Both in the neighborhood where I live now and the one I grew up in, if the street with the stores didn’t have meters it would be even more difficult to park than it is. With the meters, at least some of the store owners and employees park on the non-metered side streets.
All fine, penalty, and forfeiture income (not just parking fines) for San Francisco in Fiscal Year 2011-2012 was $8.4 million out of total revenues of $3.15 billion, or about 0.3% (See table 5 on pg. 20 of the Five-Year Financial Plan. Still a lot of money, but I’m not sure I’d call it huge.
San Francisco makes a lot more money off the parking tax, which taxes rentable non-residential parking spaces, for $76.6 million or about 2.4% of revenues.
The situation in San Jose might be different, but people tend to vastly overestimate the importance of ticket revenue to large cities.