Talk:Parking meter

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Contents 1 possible addition to security issues 2 Parking meter vs. Pay and display machine 3 removed examples of security issues 4 Help: Design 5 6 Economics of parking meters 7 Invention, patent, etc. 8 Use of foreign coins

[edit] possible addition to security issues

Maybe it would be appropriate to add here an information about Muzzy. As far as I know, it's the only monster who feeds on clocks and parking meters. Thanx.

--Yuriy Lapitskiy 16:31, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Parking meter vs. Pay and display machine

Can these two pages be merged? Or should we consider the later machines as an evolution of the first. This way, parking meter stands for the old style Duncan individual meters (one for each space or a double one for each pair of spaces, which is still the same: indivudal) and Pay and display machines for the colective meter, which serve a ticket for display on the dashboard.

The two names are perfect for both generations of these machines, but for historical reasons, in some countries, even in those where the individual meters have been fully replaced by the colective pay & display systems, they are still named after the meter, like in Portugal: parcómetros.

If both the page exists, this leaves us with the problem of where to write all the vandalism, theft considerations that have allready been writen future considerations about usage, enforcement, management, collection, operation, the industry, the techonlogy, etc...

I mean, I would really like to do so.

Andrezero 01:13, 5 January 2006 (UTC)

What about Disc Machines? In Ireland this is called a (Parking) Disc Machine

xyzzer 2006-06-12 00:34 GMT

[edit] removed examples of security issues

There were 3 paragraphs adding 3 more vandalism and theft examples. It was 3 too many, one is enough.

These were the deleted examples:

In May 2004, police in the town of Wausau, Wisconsin reported that thieves had stolen about 38 meters. It was reported that the meters would take nearly $25,000(USD) to replace, along with associated vandalism.

In the 1967 film Cool Hand Luke, an incident of attempted parking meter theft is what lands Paul Newman's character behind bars. Soon after the film ran, many municipalities that used parking meters employed countermeasures, such as sheathing the meter pole in a freely rotating steel pipe to protect it from a pipe-cutting tool.

The St. Joseph Hospital campus in Downtown Houston experienced parking meter theft where vandals would decapitate several Duncan 10-hour parking meters for loose change -- primarily from the homeless after the City of Houston amended the current parking ordinance to include Saturday-enforced parking from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Completed the existant paragraph with the brief enumeration of these various types of mutilation.

Andrezero 17:26, 7 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Help: Design

Wanted to write down a paragraph about the vintage models, namely old Art Deco's & the 60's pop styled models...

Security needs and technology advances led to the constant renewel of thousands, maybe millions, of parking meters around the world, making it a popular piece of memorabilia in houses and offices. One can find units and parts on sale, fully restored and complete with the original vaults and keys. The old Art Deco's & the 60's pop styled models are the most emblematic ones because they are very represenive of two key periods of design history that were extremelly influential on street furniture development.

Andrezero 18:45, 7 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit]

Wanted to write down a paragraph about the vintage models, namely old Art Deco's & the 60's pop styled models...

Security needs and technology advances led to the constant renewel of thousands, maybe millions, of parking meters around the world, making it a popular piece of memorabilia in houses and offices. One can find units and parts on sale, fully restored and complete with the original vaults and keys. The old Art Deco's & the 60's pop styled models are the most emblematic ones because they are very represenive of two key periods of design history that were extremelly influential on street furniture development.

Andrezero 18:45, 7 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Economics of parking meters

I'm confused about the economics of parking meters; they seem like a form of regressive taxation. It seems like you're just punishing people for doing business in your commerical areas, which would be counterproductive. What good behaviors do parking meters encourage? Are there any good economic analyses of revenue lost from discouraging consumers? -- Creidieki 13:39, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

From what I've read (I don't have sources at the top of my head, though, right now) they are supposed to subsidize the costs of maintaining the streets and discourage people from keeping their car sitting too long in areas with critical shortages of parking. The point is to encourage turnover. Otherwise, as in Berkeley, California during that funny time when the meters were rendered useless by thieves for several years, you end up with a situation where everyone leaves their car at the curb in front of a business all day and the people who need to visit the downtown area for brief errands can't find any street parking and have to park in a garage anyway. The fact is that either way, with free parking on the streets or in a garage, we will end up paying for it somehow. But I agree that the suburban model of absorbing the parking costs into the operating costs of all facilities is much more convenient for consumers who don't have to worry about carrying change, feeding a meter, or watching the clock every time they go shopping.

Another good behavior it is supposed to encourage is the use of public transit (which then reduces pollution, congestion, and wear and tear on the streets in downtowns), although this only works in areas like Manhattan and Downtown Los Angeles where garages charge $20 per hour and the street meters give only 7 minutes (or less) for a quarter.--Coolcaesar 16:49, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

There are several reasons why parking meters might exist on a given city's streets and different cities have different reasons. One reason is the obvious city revenue collection, which pays for infrastructure of sidewalks, roads, lighting, security, etc. This trickles down to business and consumer benefits. Another common reason cities use meters is as a device to encourage bylaw compliance. It's common in dense business areas to have 1 or 2 hour maximum parking stays on street. Street parking is the most desirable parking. Likely, everyone would use it if they could. So if workers or residents of the area were allowed to park in front of shops all day, with no turnover for consumers, business would likely suffer due to access. (Off street lots, undergrounds, and garages allow for longer stays.) So in this scenario, the "good behaviour" encouraged by meters is compliance to the bylaw of freeing up parking for others to use at regular intervals. I would expect most consumers need parking for significantly less than a full business day, so in this case the local businesses would benefit from the valuable street parking being used by their customers, rather than residents and all-day workers. (A meter usually won't allow more than the maximum stay to be purchased initially. This limit can sometimes be overcome by re-feeding, though some meters require the car to move before resetting its timer. Tire-chalking also supplements time-limit enforcement.) --Ds13 17:02, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Invention, patent, etc.

The article states that Carl Magee invented the parking meter. I removed a link to the company that Magee founded that backed this claim up. No offense intended, but a neutral source is probably more appropriate in this case. Something I read on that web page (http://pom.com/#History) is mildly confusing... it says that Magee sponsored university students to invent a parking meter. In the end, Magee apparently received a patent for the parking meter. Was he actually the inventor? --Ds13 05:17, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Use of foreign coins

Should there be a mention of how parking meters can be tricked by foreign coins. I just read this from a Canadian council; http://city.brockville.on.ca/forms/119-89%20Parking%20By-law.pdf The weird thing is, it seems to imply in Section 89 that it is okay and acceptable to use US coinage in their meters; seems a bit weird to encourage people to use US currency which has no legal tender status in Canada? Tarcus (talk) 08:53, 15 April 2008 (UTC)