The Fond du Lac, Wi, Reported asked a few folks in town what they thought of parking meters. Read the result here: There was one quote that was priceless:
“I despise parking meters and will park up to three blocks away to
avoid them, like the plague. I don’t agree with parking meters because
they don’t take debit cards and I rarely have cash on hand. We have a
cash-less society.”
I wonder if this fellow realized that the meters were doing exactly what they were supposed to do. They moved his parking away from the area and people who were prepared to pay had a place to park.
I also like his comment on cards. He is right, and based on what I saw at the IPI, more and more meters are taking debit and credit cards. This is a good move for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that it allows cities to raise prices beyond the limits set by the number of quarters people normally carry.
JVH
One Response
This was perhaps one of the most ridiculous surveys on parking I’ve ever seen. The entire thing consisted of “tell us what you think of having parking meters installed” (or something like that), which is like asking someone what they think of having a tooth pulled. Of course they’re going to hate the idea, unless you tell them the option is to have the tooth fester and cause agonizing unbearable pain. If they would have asked something like “would you be willing to pay 50 cents to park at the front door versus parking for free and having to walk a block or 2?”, then they might have gotten altogether different (useful) answers.