iFound: Park Atlanta meters are stealing time and money!

Here is the YouTube link: http://youtu.be/4-r7NDiYAcg
YouTube Embedded Video is at the end of this post.

Here is the Change.org petition to pressure people to sign up at:
http://www.change.org/petitions/atlanta-city-government-parkatlanta-change-parking-meters-to-time-based-not-session-based-metering  I need signatures ASAP.

The Story:
I traveled to downtown Atlanta and paid for some time on a Park Atlanta street meter box, and went back to add more time on my spot.  A ticket was later issued (and I paid for it). Well guess what?  The meter boxes restart the timer on a spot whenever money is added for that spot.  Yes, that means adding a single quarter will effectively erase ANY left-over time on that spot, and the car in the spot will be pretty much be guaranteed a ticket!

Park Atlanta meter boxes are differant from the old-style meters:
1.  The timer is hidden.  Older meters show them.
2.  Park Atlanta meters have session-based timers. More money is less time.
3.  Receipts are issued on an OPT IN basis.

I verified this with a separate transaction, with two parking fees paid for about a minute apart.  At 5:35 pm on the 19th of November (2011), I paid $1 for a half-hour of parking time for Space # 822 in Zone # 88.  A minute later, I paid $3.  Now, I was hoping for a 2 hour credit on the deadline, but instead I was cheated out of a half-hour and my deadline was 7:06 pm from the 5:36 pm starting time.  A traditional meter would have shown a two-hour credit for time on parking.  Nope.  Not Park Atlanta.

So – we have the all-important question – how many people have been cheated out of money and time by Park Atlanta, at what cost, and what is Kasim Reed willing to do to help fix this problem?

The YouTube Embedded Video is enclosed.  Please pass this story on to all your friends and family – this is (in some ways) much sneaker (and worse) than the bank fees.  No one is told of the erasure of their time, and session-based timing of parking spots only ensures that people are double-billed for the same time when visitors forget to pay for “all of their time” in a single transaction.

And here is a picture of both receipts placed side-by-side so you, too, can see what I am saying about erased time:

PROOF that Park Atlanta is cheating customers.

Park Atlanta parking time erased – PROOF in black and white.

This needs to change, or the Atlanta tax base will be paying $$ to lawyers.
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About Amy Barnes

Author has extensive experience in Retail, including two years as a supervisor. Educated in Psychology, Financial Accounting, Criminal Justice, and Programming. Work experience in Law Enforcement, Security (IT), Programming (REALBasic, SQL, VB, JAVA), Retail.
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