Downtown Parking Meter Rates Set to Double

WOW! I wrote on my blog last week about my first parking ticket here in LA and how half the meters seem to be broken.

I sure wish the city would invest in meters that work and are reliable before asking me to not have lunch in order to park downtown.

Daaaaaaayyyyyyyyyuuuuuuummmmmmmmm!

Do you think the parking meters will start taking dollar coins?

I have to agree with Brian - I have rarely had to put coins in the meter because I usually find (or search for...whatever) a broken meter.

I'd love to know if the city did any analysis here aside from using a spreadsheet to figure out how much they had to raise their rates to meet a certain revenue figure. Ideally, they'd have run simulations with different growth scenarios and accounting for driver behavior when confronted by different price points. I wonder how elastic demand is? I'm sure some economist has worked on this. I'm sure there is a real market for this kind of analysis.

Basically, is the statement "[i]t is anticipated that this increase will result in greater mobility in street traffic due to a higher turnover at meters" based on real analysis or is it just the city's best guess?

My hunch is "Nope".

For years now, Portland OR has had smartmeter. It works like this:

1. Locate the PAY TO PARK area and SmartMeter on the block (usually located in the middle of the block).
2. Find an available space.
3. PARK.
4. PAY at the SmartMeter.
5. DISPLAY the larger portion of the receipt properly in your vehicle.
6. Take the smaller portion of the receipt with you.

The smartmeter takes coins, credit/debit cards and "smart cards", which you load/reload money on.

Wish they would install it in L.A.. It is much easier than always making sure you have change for a meter.

Another plus with smartmeter (per their website):

Customers receive a receipt and are able to take their remaining parking time with them to another space!

No more over-feeding a meter.

That sounds similar to some of the lots and meters back in Chicago. Just before leaving the Windy City they were installing meters that would allow you to use your cell phone to pay. Somehow the cell is linked to your back account and viola!

I stand by my statement that before hitting residents and visitors for more money, fix the meters you have in place or install new ones.

On another note, is this the city doing their best to discourage people from visiting the core and frequenting local businesses? It sure seems like it.

So, The meter in front of my loft will double from "Broken" to "Broken"? And the meters around Good Sam will be twice the random number of quarters needed to register one hour? Perhaps they will register only every third quarter, instead of every other quarter?

The CC eating meters can be a problem. There is a report on Consumerist of BofA charging a $10 cash-advance fee on meter payments. Seems some agencies don't want to pay the CC processing fees, and so put your card through as a cash advance, triggering an unexpected fee.

Hell, what I really want is to be able to use the loading zone in front of the building to drop off groceries after 3:00PM.

The full Consumerist story on the $10 parking meter credit card charge.

Where do I go to read about / comment on LA's plans for CC billing of meters? (I know, I know, google is my friend...)

Was wondering when the doubled parking meter fees would take effect --

"this increase will result in greater mobility in street traffic"

bullshit

The city employs several classifications of transportation-specific engineers, analysts, planners and investigators.

I suspect the increase meter rate has to do with several factors, prevailing free market correction, maintenance of the meters themselves and manpower associated with collecting the coins.

A coin feed parking meter that signals when it is expired, full or broken through a WiFi network would be a wise upgrade. However, any electronic meter payment system could also make time limit enforcement much easier than a walk with chalk and virtually irrefutable evidence if contested.

Hmm, let's think about that...

I think there needs to be a 2-tier system, where locals get a better/more convient way of using the meters.

From previous experience in Hermosa Beach- we could put a permit that would give us a card to hang over rear-view mirror and that would allow parking at meters for extended times w/o tickets. This card could be given to guest too so they could park overnight or whatever.

And we could buy a "card" that would work in any meter as real money- who carries 16 quarters around for 1 hr of parking? The card was a pain, but necessary when rates go to $4/hr and above, unless they figure out how to swipe a credit card there.

I don't like anything tied to a cell phone; I change them like (well, I change them a lot). Let's get back to basics and make it easy for LOCALS (and their guests) to park downtown.

The limited area indicated here does not really have a lot of metered parking compared the the Historic Core east of Hill.

I am OK with increasing the rates, but they should also vastly expand the availability of street parking all over downtown, and stop treating it as a means to move traffic ever faster.

Another brilliant move by the city of Los Angeles! We are trying to GROW AND EXPAND nightlife and other activities in downtown LA. Prohibitive parking costs coupled with no overnight metro service in general (bus or rail) make downtown a really tough sell in terms of entertainment options. I don't even have to mention selling friends on coming down to your place for dinner, rising gas prices. I know that they are raising the price of metered parking in the "Loop" during peak business hours in Chicago, but Chicago has excellent overnight transit options and considerably more traffic than LA. I just don't get this initiative.

I don't know a single meter Downtown that is valid after 6p. In other words, you don't need to feed the meter after the posted hours of enforcement for the time limits the meters enforce.

Similarly, Loading Zones become parking zones outside the enforcement hours. There are a dozen or more of these Downtown I never see used at night that could be. If you don't trust Internet advice (and who should) you can read about it here under Yellow Curb Zones:

http://www.ladot.lacity.org/tf_Colored_Curb_Zones.htm

Watch out for alleys and these other parking no-nos:

http://www.ladot.lacity.org/tf_Parking_regulations.htm

You can also learn about Park and Pay systems in place already in some parks of Los Angeles:

http://www.ladot.lacity.org/pdf/PDF1.pdf

BTW, according to LADOT:

"When parking rates are underpriced, spaces are almost always full, and drivers spend a long time hunting for a nearby space, adding to travel times, congestion, and pollution."

I have parked downtown probably a dozen times since arriving in April and never have I had a problem finding a spot. Perhaps if people are hunting to park directly out front of the place they need to go, but otherwise I can always grab a spot somewhat close.

So the idea that people are hunting for spots is a tough one for me to buy.

If your search for a parking place has turned into 'grabbing' a spot somewhere close -- you have engaged in parking spot hunting.

Notwithstanding the patch from Sixth to Fourth, Olive has a large number of meters in this zone.

Silver Lake and Old Town Pasadena use thr smartmeters. Very convinient and easy to use. I would hope those machines would be installed in Downtown.

Thanks for bringing this up, Eric. I'm getting really frustrated with the parking meter situation Downtown. I don't use the car very often, but when I do, I have to run the gauntlet of broken parking meters. I routinely see people jimmying the machines for quarters, so it doesn't take a genius to figure out why they're always broken. As frustrated as I am now with this antiquated system, I'm even more perplexed by the news in your post. If they're going to double the fee, can we at least get some new machines. I won't hold my breath for a SmartMeter, as the automated toilet on 4th and Hill is still not operational, but could we at least get some meters from the 1990s?? Realistically, I think that the increased fee will result in more opportunities for the City to fine people, which is a significant source of income. You can get fined for jaywalking Downtown, but you can smoke crack in the middle of Figueroa in rush-hour traffic with nary a cop in sight...

Today in Wired:

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/07/the-race-to-fin.html

JM Said:

"You can get fined for jaywalking Downtown, but you can smoke crack in the middle of Figueroa in rush-hour traffic with nary a cop in sight."

quoted for truth- I wish the "powers that be" spent as much time busting street dealers/bad people as they did trying to ticket a car.

Stand on any street corner at any time of day or night, downtown or elsewhere. At every light cycle you will see drivers running lights, speeding, making illegal turns, stopping in crosswalks to turn right (or left) on red, etc.

It's amazing to me.

I agree with your comments. There seems to be a very strange set of rules that apply specifically to pedestrians Downtown, rather than drivers (cars going down one-way streets anyone?). I guess there's less stress involved in busting a pedestrian than a driver. That said, I wonder how harshly they'll be implementing the new fees for parking meters. If they have more money rolling in, they'll probably hire more traffic cops... At some point, someone in City Hall's going to have to address the (existing and future) parking problems Downtown. A little courage and foresight would be nice.

That's B.S. I love downtown, but this sucks.