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The LA Experience


According to a reportmade to the Los Angeles City Council, the city’s new 10,000 individual credit cardmeters have resulted in a: • 50%increase in revenue. • 75%reduction in contestedmeter citations. • 55%reduction in complaints to the city’s “Meter Hotline.” • 99%up-time and operating rate.


Much of this increase is due to the 99%up-time rate and the city’s rule that if themachine won’t accept coins, then a card must be used (or vice versa) or the drivermustmove to another space. This resulted in an increase in citations as none were issued at brokenmeters.


Don Shoup talks about “graduated” parking fines. First ticketmay be a warn- ing or only $10, but the second might be $50, and the third $150. People who make one mistake get a pass; scofflaws pay the price. One problem that our parking man-


agers saw with this was the potential for a reduction in revenue. “Wow! It sounds great. Our city is


considering such a plan.What wonderful PR. But it could mean a big reduction in


revenue. Scofflaws might change their behavior, stop breaking the rules, and we will write a lot fewer tickets.” This goes to the policy side of park-


ing. What is it all about? Are the rules there to make the parking more available, as a utility such as electricity or water, or are they there to generate revenue for cash strapped cities? Should cities get their rev- enue froma small number of scofflaws, or more generally through taxes? “Well, you can look at it from the


point of view that those who break the rules pay for those who don’t. At that point, you have to be sure you don’t set the fines too high to change all the behavior, or the fiscal cost will be too high.” But isn’t that what you are trying


to do? “Still have to generate the revenue.” How about broken meters?What is


good policy? Should people be allowed to park at thesemeters? Should they call in? “Meters with multiple ways to pay


should still be in force. If the coin slot is jammed but the credit card slot works, they should pay. It’s like going into a shoe store and the credit cardmachine is down. They don’t just give you the shoes.” Unfortunately, parkers often don’t


look at it that way. It seems to go back to the “parking should be free” mantra, and whenever or whatever you charge is too much. “That’s a conversation you need to


have with the mayor,” one parking man- ager told PT. “They set policy, we enforce it.”


John Van Horn is founder, editor and pub- lisher of Parking Today magazine.


PT CELEBRATING 40 YEARS! Quality Tickets  Red Carpet Service


At Digital Printing Systems, we want you to feel like we've rolled out the red carpet for you. We like to think that each employee at


Digital is accountable to you, our customer. We want you to be 100% satisfied with our tickets and our service, nothing less. You might find our standard level of service more like special treatment. We like it that way. We're sure you will, too.


“I can’t say enough about how pleased I am with how I’ve been treated by your company since we began our professional relationship. I just wanted to pass that on to you and a big thumbs up.”


Tony Skinner, City of Orlando Parking Division For all your ticket needs, call


877.375.5355 DIANE


27 YEARS OF EXCEPTIONAL SERVICE


www.dpstickets.com FEBRUARY 2011 • PARKING TODAY • www.parkingtoday.com 17


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