Days of free parking at broken meters in L.A. coming to an end

The days of getting free parking at broken meters in Los Angeles are numbered.

The city has begun installing new solar-powered meters that are much less likely to malfunction and that accept credit cards and coins.

The Los Angeles Department of Transportation has replaced about half of the 40,000 meters across the city with the new models, making it easier for motorists to pay and harder for vandals to tamper.

Until all the meters are replaced, drivers who find a spot at an old, broken meter will not get a ticket, said Sean Anderson, a spokesman for the Transportation Department.

But drivers who park at a new meter that happens to be broken will be ticketed.

“That is unlikely to happen,” said Anderson. “With the new meters, you don’t have the reliability issue. There is a less than 1% chance they are ever down.”

The new meters cost the city about $20 each a year to lease. They use wireless technology to communicate service problems and jams, allowing technicians to be dispatched to the field quickly.

City officials say they eventually hope to replace all the old meters, helping both the city and customers save money.

“It is less expensive to pay for parking than to get a ticket,” Anderson said. “This makes it easier for you to pay, so you don’t get a ticket.”

-- Ching-Ching Ni

Photo: Parking meter technician Gerardo Salazar pulls a wad of paper out of the coin slot in a meter on Santee Street in downtown Los Angeles on Aug. 4. Credit: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[syscom3]

So if the machine is broken and you cannot pay, dont park there?

[syscom3]

So if the machine is broken and you cannot pay, dont park there?

[Marcos El Malo]

They don't ticket at broken meters? This is news to me. Either practice or policy of Parking Enforcement is to ticket and leave it up to the driver to fight the ticket.

Furthermore, I have seen malfunctioning meters flip back to "operating" while a car is parked, causing tickets. Of course, if you try to put money in it, it goes back to malfunctioning.

Parking tickets (not money from paying at the meter) is what generates cash for the city. I don't trust this new system one bit, given what a scam metered parking has been in the past. My guess is that they will pull the same costly shennanigans, he difference being that now they'll have "computer evidence" that malfunctioning meters weren't malfuntioning.

[Erwin]

It's hard to imagine the city would have written the loss of parking ticket fines into the budget, so how is the lost revenue going to be replaced? Increased parking fees? Stricter enforcement of minor parking offenses, such as parking one inch into the red curb zone?

[LA Resident]

The Terminator has California to his knees! Arnold Schwarzenegger, I'll never thank you for raising taxes and allowing illegals to mess the state up!

[Bob]

All it takes is a person with a can of black spray paint to cover the photoelectric cells and all the meters within a few blocks are quickly rendered inoperable and useless.

So when this happens, where are people going to park without getting ticketed?

[Chloe]

I'm cool with paying for parking on the street. I just wish the meters system would be altered. I HATE trying to figure out how long I'll be at an establishment, put money in the meter only to find out that I'm going to be there for longer than what is on the meter (and then stress out if I can't leave so easily to put more money in the meter). There were also times when I've parked somewhere, put $1-$3 in the meter and then end up leaving immediately due to circumstances (change of plans, store was closed unexpectedly, etc) wasting money.

Ideally there would be a system that would take my money in the exact amount for the exact timeframe I was parked. Sure, it feels good when I find a meter that already has 0:40 from the person who parked there last, but more often than not I'm just wasting my coins. Like maybe something when I can swipe my credit card, keep the "tab" open and then leave when I want to without stressing.

[Ben Raskob]

If there are 40,000 new meters across the city, and a 1% chance of them being down, then that means that there will be about 400 broken meters at any point in time. That's a lot of meters being down, and could mean a lot of tickets for people who park in front of broken meters thinking that the city does not ticket that. Or, that the meter breaks while they are parked. The city needs to publicize this change more, or agree to continue not to ticket for broken meters.

[bill]

that's bull, i was at a new one in westwood and it was broken - they still break - they are machines - this is just more gouging, and less of an incentive to fix the things when they inevitably break. i guess my experience in westwood is analogus to a lightning strike then - gee was i lucky.

[Guinea Pig Zed]

Alwasys carry a large pipe cutter. An official looking sign saying free parking. Slip over the parking meter.

[El Guapo de la ciudad de Los Angeles]

This means you put your money in and it doesn't register for whatever myriad reasons and you get a ticket anyway. Nice racket or "excise tax" on the public.

[Jon D Toellner]

In the article Andersen said: There is a less than 1% chance they [the meters] are ever down. Assuming that 0.5% (which is less than 1%) are down, of 40,000 meters 200 spaces would not be available or would result in a ticket. Why not let motorists continue to park free if there's a malfunction? If the reliability is worse (as often is the case) and 2% are down we've lost 800 spaces.

[M. Roberts]

They aren't supposed to ticket at broken meters, but as anyone who knows LA's criminal corps of revenue enhancement -- aka meter maids -- can attest, that means nothing to them. They are so quota hungry they'd ticket their own mother at a broken meter. On a Sunday.

[Huh]

This is illogical. If the meters are less likely to fail, why would that justify eliminating free parking at broken meters? If anything, it just means the city will be able to ensure more working meters, lessening the number of people who end up parking at broken meters. Whether they should be allowed to park for free at broken meters is unrelated.

[PT1]

If it's less likely to be broken, why would they eliminate one's freedom to park in a spot with a broken meter?

It's policies like this that infuriate citizens and create enormous antipathy for those who design public policy without regard to our quality of life.

[West Valley Dave]

So, IF the new meter IS broken, how does one pay for one's parking? I guess that valuable space just goes vacant. Typical city action. Stupid is as stupid does.

[Kurt]

$20 a year to lease? That is an amazing typo. The cost of these meters to the city is well over $10,000

[dainla]

Nice. Extending the hours of metered parking to 8, making Sundays a metered parking day and now this.

Maybe the city shouldn't have increased business taxes and driven companies like Yahoo to Santa Monica. I'm enjoying paying for your insufficient governing with my wallet.

Idiot.

[scully]

it's a RACKET!

[bman]

What service are they providing exactly, that I should pay to park on a public street in the first place? It's an excuse to write tickets and generate funds. And that's not counting the times I've been ticketed when I still had time on the meter and even when the meter was broken. Now, there's a new way to stick it to me. Great.

[Michael Torgan]

The city needs to make all meters have a minimum 2 hour time limit. One hour meters are nothing but ticket traps, since nearly every function (eating out, getting a hair cut, seeing a movie) takes longer than an hour, especially when you factor in the time it takes to walk to and from your car. One hour hurt businesses and customers alike.

[Michael Torgan]

The city needs to make all meters have a minimum 2 hour time limit. One hour meters are nothing but ticket traps, since nearly every function (eating out, getting a hair cut, seeing a movie) takes longer than an hour, especially when you factor in the time it takes to walk to and from your car. One hour hurt businesses and customers alike.

[Fred]

Whatever will the valet parker's do? It is well documented that they routinely jam the machines at a high cost to the city to repair.

I am fine with the policy (in the infrequent event of a malfunction, dont park there or get a ticket). Like always, some will fail whilst you are parked there and you can fight it.

[JB]

The local governments are a bunch of thieves when it comes to parking meters. I got ticketed for parking at a malfunctioning, new meter--the meter magically became operable again. I tried to fight it but had no evidence. After this experience, I have encountered many malfunctioning, new meters. I have tried to take pictures to prove that they were out of service but since they flicker so fast, and the lighting does not allow to take clear pictures, I end up giving up and parking somewhere else because it may magically become operable again and get ticketed. This is a total scam. By the way, if you miss paying your parking ticket by the due date, which are so outrageously expensive, your fine doubles. Again, this is straight thievery.

[Tim]

I was looking for parking in West Hollywood recently, I circled and circled, and the ONLY open spots were at broken meters, of course, you can't park there according to the rules. If there is no other parking, why the bleep do they do this? At a certain point, it only hurts the business that I was attempting to patronize, and I would have paid, too. Blanket prohibition of parking at broken meters is short-sighted and stupid in areas with chronic shortages. Aggravating to see LA now go this direction.