Feed the Meter
Remember when we used to scrounge our purses, wallets, and every crack and crevice of our cars, looking for quarters to feed the parking meter? Oh the feeling of exhilaration as we, seemingly through some kind of miraculous intervention, discovered we had enough quarters, dimes, and/or nickels. Or just quarters if it was one of those machines. Phew, crisis averted. What a relief it was to avoid what seemed like an insurmountable challenge of having to go into any of the hundreds of establishments and ask one of them if they can give you change for a dollar.
So when the day came when, like most everything else, the parking meter got a digital upgrade, and the physical meters went the way of the dodo bird, you’d think that would have been cause for celebration. We were liberated from being slaves to our pocket change! No more scrounging! Just. Wait. What? Just do what? How does this work?
Ok, ok. Let’s see. Download an app. Ok, it says Park Mobile. Got it. Done. Ok. Enter my license plate number? Ok, let’s take a look. Got it. Done. Enter your parking zone. My parking zone? Look around for a minute not seeing a parking spot number, a bit confused. Ah, there it is. On the sign. Got it. Done. Credit card info. Ok, pull out the card. Got it. Done. Enter expected amount of time. Let’s say 2 hours. Got it. Done. Hit pay and voila! Process completed.
Alright. That wasn’t so bad. I was feeling quite proud of myself and my ability to not be a dinosaur and to adapt to the times. Look at me, all tech-y and sh*t. Easy-peasy. And I thought, how cool that if I go over 2 hours I don’t have to run out and feed the meter. Just pull up my phone and add in some more time. Nice!
That was the first time. The next time I needed to park somewhere, I thought, I got this. I pull up my app and realize it’s not working. What? Oh, wait. This is a different parking app? I have to download a different parking app? Seriously. Argh. Ok. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Now, 150 parking apps later, I think I am covered for at least Philadelphia and the surrounding 5 county area. God knows how many other parking apps I will need if I go any further out than that.
Why are there so many different parking apps? Couldn’t someone somewhere consolidate this to some degree? Like divvy up the country and say Park Mobile, you get the eastern seaboard, Meter Feeder, you get the western seaboard, and Pay by Phone, you get the flyover states in the middle where no one is going to anyway. So instead of there being hundreds of parking apps, we can consolidate to a handful, and then make them geo-specific so that you don’t end up with 150 parking apps on your phone.
It all ends up feeling a bit like Dennis’s experience with a car rental in an episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
https://youtu.be/lwMkJvFXzWQ?si=_-h6JZt8r2YVl1Dp
The other risk with parking apps? Accidentally putting in the wrong license plate number or wrong zone or parking spot number and coming out of the restaurant only to find your car was towed.
No, this did not happen to me. But it happened to this poor couple in Asheville, NC, as we were heading into said restaurant. They stood there, forlorn in the parking lot, begging whichever parking app company that was, that they must have made a mistake entering their license number and they needed their car back. It sounded like quite the ordeal, and judging by the tears in their eyes they were not enjoying it very much.
So, I guess like the parking meter going the way of the dodo bird, so too did the meter maids. Looks like the parking apps have tow companies on speed dial. The heck with issuing a ticket. We’ll just tow your car. I am ever so careful when entering in my license plate number.
Do I want to go back to parking meters? No. Just a more streamlined, organized effort as it relates to these parking apps would be nice.
Maybe there’s an app for that?