By adamg on Fri., 9/28/2012 - 7:38 am
The Boston Business Journal reports the numbers, quotes a city official as saying it has to do with more people riding the T, not cutbacks in the number of parking-enforcement officers.
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Comments
Simple soultion...
By anon
Fri, 09/28/2012 - 8:20am
Just have a parking enforcement official sit outside the Dunkins in Oak Square and ticket the seemingly hundreds of cars that park in the bus stop to "run in" and grab their coffee. Easy money at $100 a pop.
yeah that...or...
By Sarcastic Sam
Fri, 09/28/2012 - 10:11am
ANY Dunkins in the city.
You're right about that Oak Square Dunkins
By Matthew
Fri, 09/28/2012 - 2:31pm
Every time I take the bus from Oak Square, I always see people leaving their cars in front there. I remember in particular one time I observed an SUV with a handicap placard pull up into the bus stop. The lady got out and ran into the Dunkins to get her fix, no disability apparent.
Oh well.
Visually impaired?
By Sarcastic Sam
Fri, 09/28/2012 - 5:54pm
She probably couldn't see that it was a bus stop....but could easily recognize the DD logo.
Can't allow successful businesses...
By Markk02474
Fri, 09/28/2012 - 5:23pm
God forbid there is adequate parking needed by businesses to survive. I suppose its better that all businesses go away, and then convert more parking spots to bike lanes? Too bad about no jobs or tax revenues as a result...
More cheese with that WHINE?
By thetrainmon
Mon, 10/01/2012 - 2:02pm
Markk, once again you manage to not read the article and instead go off on some tangent about whatever pops into your head. The article isn't about parking revenue--it's about parking fines revenue. Apples to--I don't know--crab apples?
Well for one thing they could
By anon
Fri, 09/28/2012 - 9:16am
Well for one thing they could start ticketing people for parking in bus stops and bike lanes.....
How many meter maids does it take to ticket a line of cars?
By spin o rama
Fri, 09/28/2012 - 11:38am
I've seen the BTD vans filled with 3 people along Comm Ave., while another worker moves along ticketing a few cars as the van rolls along, blocking the bike lane.
Of course I have so far only see this happen once, so I certainly don't think this happens all the time.
Get rid of bike lanes!
By Markk02474
Fri, 09/28/2012 - 5:39pm
Eliminating vehicles in bike lanes is easy - get rid of bike lanes. Studies show they don't reduce accidents compared to wide curb lanes anyway. http://pubsindex.trb.org/view.aspx?id=492026
The TRB has offered funding to study the conflict between delivery trucks and bike lanes, given its so common in NYC.
The alternative is to lose 2-3 parking spots by converting them into a loading zone, on every block in a commercial area. Fewer parking spots will hurt businesses, jobs and, revenues, and meter income.
Parking spots lost to "complete streets", bike lanes on Mass Ave and elsewhere, and "parklets" all hurt City revenues, businesses, and jobs. Its not made up with cyclists paying anything extra.
That's like saying you have a
By anon
Fri, 09/28/2012 - 6:24pm
That's like saying you have a broken finger, so rather than deal with the problem cut off your hand.
Again, not what the article is about
By thetrainmon
Mon, 10/01/2012 - 2:06pm
By your notion of there being too many bike lanes, parking fines should be up from people parking illegally in them to conduct or patronize businesses. The article states that parking fines are down. Once again, off the soapbox and please read the article!
The drop in tickets is
By anon
Fri, 09/28/2012 - 9:23am
probably due to the addition of debit/credit card metered spaces that make it easier for people to park without worrying about going to the bank for cash to then make change, all while hoping a meter maid isn't watching the 2 minute surplus on the meter they are presently parked at tick down to slap a crispy $35, or whatever it is now, ticket on the windshield.
I would like to see how much more revenue parking meters are now taking in since the switch to debit/credit card kiosks because the surplus on your window sticker cannot be applied by the next user of the same space.
If you care that much, you
By anon
Sat, 09/29/2012 - 1:46am
If you care that much, you can leave the sticker on the machine for the next person when you leave.
LOL
By aldos
Fri, 09/28/2012 - 10:05am
I literally laughed out loud when I read that.
easy money
By Robt
Fri, 09/28/2012 - 10:27am
Don't parking officers basically pay for their own costs through ticketing? Why would the city cut back? I'm sure there's a law of diminishing returns for increased parking enforcement officers, but my guess is the city is no where near it. And if it was, I'd suggest these folks be allowed to start enforcing other traffic laws while they are on the streets. That's a major source of untapped revenue. Red-light runners and unshoveled sidewalks alone would be easy money.
If only...
By willisan
Fri, 09/28/2012 - 11:34am
Law enforcement was about law enforcement, and not a revenue stream.
This exactly
By anon
Fri, 09/28/2012 - 12:01pm
It truly is a shame.
Don't enforce laws only
By anon
Fri, 09/28/2012 - 12:57pm
Don't enforce laws only because they generate revenue but by the same token don't claim that we can't enforce laws we all want enforced because we can't afford to.
Million reasons to do nothing
By anon
Fri, 09/28/2012 - 2:06pm
The sad thing is that this reasoning quickly becomes an excuse to do nothing.
This is low hanging fruit for
By anon
Fri, 09/28/2012 - 1:12pm
This is low hanging fruit for improving the quality of life and safety for law abiding citizens and it has the added bonus of generating revenue.
If anything the city should double parking fines on game days and have strict enforcement around the sports arenas. The city could get itself in the black from that alone.
Discourage yet more Sox fan?
By Markk02474
Fri, 09/28/2012 - 5:29pm
Perhaps game day revenues are down because fewer people want to go watch the Sox lose? When the Sox are winning, fans are willing to get soaked for parking, souvenirs, beers, and food. Not so much when they suck.
Did the sellout streak finally get broken?
By Sarcastic Sam
Fri, 09/28/2012 - 5:57pm
Sox were selling out games for a number of years in a row. Did that finally end?
Granted you were referring to people actually *attending* the game, but i was jus' wunnerin'
Are you clueless or do you
By anon
Fri, 09/28/2012 - 6:27pm
Are you clueless or do you really view city residents as second class citizens to suburbanites? Do you really think it is good for the city of Boston and local residents to have to put up with assholes on game days parking illegally in residential spots and taking up parking spaces in front of local businesses from potential customers?
I think resident parking
By anon
Sat, 09/29/2012 - 1:43am
I think resident parking restrictions are assholish. Public streets should be for everyone.
Higher price, lower variance
By Matthew
Fri, 09/28/2012 - 2:36pm
Agreed. The meter prices should be set higher, to near the market value of the parking space, or at least to some value that ensures approximately 15% of the street spaces are available at any given moment.
(If the street spaces are not in demand, then it should go down to zero.)
Then, the meters can be outfitted with "modern" apparatus like credit card readers and car detectors, so they can automatically charge for time used precisely, instead of playing "gotcha" games with meter maids. You know, the same "advanced" technology I saw widely deployed in Tokyo 5 years ago.
Boston has meter cards
By downtown anon
Fri, 09/28/2012 - 3:05pm
Actually I am sure they have some fancy name that I don't remember. I just went to a meeting that said that, at least in Beacon Hill on Charles St and Beacon St you can use these cards. Fill the card with whatever dollar amount you like. Swipe the card when you park and then swipe it when you leave. Only pay the amount you need. Of course nothing is easy in Boston and you can only get them at City Hall - but they are available. And while making it difficult to use, you might as well not advertise it - then people might want to know why it is so hard to get a card.
Ah, Matthew, on again about demand management.
By issacg
Sat, 09/29/2012 - 10:21am
And Good For You!
Wouldn't it be something - parking meters connected to each other to dynamically measure demand in a given vicinity and then charge an amount that balances supply and demand? It would almost be like a limited-access highway that charges you based on the demand for use of that highway (and you see how little success that has been met with)!
Even though that is probably one of the only ways to restore our creaking public transportation infrastructure, demand management is not coming anytime soon to any of that infrastructure. This is probably a shame of course, because I think that people could be made to understand the notion quite easily (e.g., just give an example featuring those masters of the price discriminating universe - the airlines!).
The only way I can ever envision the body politic going for something like this would be if the appropriating authority (the City, the Commonwealth, etc.) could show, convincingly, that it was going to drastically slash the appropriation (and hence, tax revenue requirements) that is tied to a given revenue stream to a bare minimum, and would not simply allocate the "saved" money elsewhere (thereby raising the overall "tax" burden). However, the level of trust in government of all levels to actually hold up its end of that bargain is virtually non-existent.
Essentially, people claim to dislike paying for "stuff for others" (through taxation), but they also don't want to move to a revenue system that is based more on user fees (and in which demand management would be used). Maybe that's because they don't think that the taxation level will be decreased (as discussed above), but nevertheless, unless an until this tune is changed, we're doomed.
I realize that I'm preaching to the choir here (your frequent explanations of the tragedy of the commons/freeloader problem is duly noted), but if enough people keep pointing this out, maybe, just maybe, we'll have a shot.
It takes time
By Matthew
Sat, 09/29/2012 - 5:11pm
I just saw an article about HOT lanes in Atlanta and they have a list of examples of other places with them too. It's not listed but I saw in Austin just recently that you could pay a toll for the faster road, or take the slower roads for free.
There's SFPark, you may know about, which is experimenting with some Shoup-style ideas of making parking easier to find and returning revenue to the area.
Since NYC was prevented from instituting the congestion pricing by Albany, they've been effectively hiking Port Authority tolls to try and make a dent in traffic congestion and the repair backlog. There's also an effort underway to add tolls to the East River bridges, though that is subject to it's own whole political mess. But I'm sure it will come up over and over again as time goes by.
Boston will probably wait extra long to do anything, as always. I think you're right about the politics. It would be nice to cut some regressive taxation and replace it with tolls. Although, there is the problem that we're already short on revenue to fix infrastructure. People have been resistant to tolls in the past because they were inconvenient (and I agree that they were) but modern technology makes it a breeze: cameras or transponders can read tags/license plates at full highway speed, and no land is needed for tollbooths. In Texas, for example, they just mail you a bill for the toll, if you haven't already pre-registered an account with the DOT. All automated, quite neat. No reason why the same technology can't be used for parking payment.
Something's not right
By Stevil
Fri, 09/28/2012 - 11:46am
They are citing a 16% drop in the number of meter supervisors -but every budget going back to 2009 has 197 positions in the budget. So either they are talking about some other number or these were some of the famous phantom positions they leave unfilled (many in BPS) so that they can reallocate the money elsewhere.
Theory
By Sock_Puppet
Fri, 09/28/2012 - 4:20pm
The ratio of no-show patronage hires is up. Perhaps 16% of the supposed meter supervisors are too busy not being toll takers and parole office workers to work.
Cars/trucks parked or standing in travel lanes
By JCK
Fri, 09/28/2012 - 12:06pm
I see this every day.
There are plenty of opportunities for additional revenue.
Cabs and Trucks and Private Cars in Bike Lanes
By anon
Fri, 09/28/2012 - 4:30pm
You can't go more than a block without 1-3 entitled douchebags deciding that a bike lane is really a "5-10 minute parking space anytime the special entitled ME wants one" lane.
Citizens Connect useless
By anon
Sat, 09/29/2012 - 10:58am
At first I thought the Citizens Connect app would help with all the bus stop, bike lane, and sidewalk parking that is so common in Boston. But then I tried it, and Meninos minions take a day or two for parking issues, and then reply "all clear".