Oh Brother. Some slick salesman sure got this guy buffaloed. The story is that a couple of times a week folks put their ticket in and the gate doesn’t open. The company line is the evil parkers wrinkle the mag stripe and it can’t be read. Then the parker must call a number on the spitter and if no one answers they are to call 911. The 911 operator then calls the parking director, someone in public works, or the cops who come over and open the gate. Oh Please.
I can hear the call –
Operator: 911 – what is your emergency
Caller: the parking gate won’t open
911. Where are you located.
Caller: Garage on 7th street
911: Standby, I will notify the proper authorities.
10 minutes later she reaches someone on the call list and they are dispatched. By the time they arrive, the person has been sitting in the lane 15 minutes. Hell, why not just drive through the damn gate.
(In the meantime a house has burned down, and a bank robbed because the cops, public works and 911 are dealing with a friggin gate that won’t go up.)
First of all, they should get a parking system that works. I have seen mag stripe tickets that have been read after being under water. Of course you can make anything unreadable, but this is insane. Failing that, how about an auto dialer – put the button, it rings on a cell phone that is carried by the parking manager who pushed #1 or something and the gate opens. No cops, no 911 emergency.
What a crock
JVH
