New Parking Payment Stations Finally Added To South Side of 11xx Block of Locust Street
Scaffolding next to the condemned parking garage at Tucker & Locust prevented the adjacent parking meters on the South side of Locust Street from being upgraded with the rest of downtown. Until last week, the old meters remained on the South side of Locust between 11th & Tucker (12th). The North side got new individual meters last year.
The other side of the street has new individual meters, not the multi-space pay stations added to the South. This is far from the only block that has both individual meters and multi-space pay stations. I guess having lots of one-way streets and streets that are closed for a block wasn’t confusing enough — now we have two different types of electronic payment machines to understand.
— Steve Patterson
I hate those parking stations. Half the time you walk opposite the direction you need to go in order to feed the meter. Then if it doesn’t take your money you have to go back and check the number on the meter. I used to go to Soulard Market almost every Saturday, not any more, Maybe other people like it, I sure don’t.
It is more of the same, government getting more and more into revenue generation, rather than encouraging prime spaces to only be used a short time. The new individual meters that take cards are far better, they blink so it is easy for the meter maid to see, in fact I doubt seriously if there is any labor savings by using the stations.
It is clear the customer service isn’t put first, the design is purely a convenience for the government.
(is this contract a lease or sale, do you know? It is a private firm collecting the funds correct?, the meter maids are city employees, is this correct?)
I agree the pay stations aren’t ideal.
I often use the park mobile app to avoid fussing with the stations. Would be worth a try if you haven’t used it already.
I remember Steve mentioned the app at some point, not familiar with it though, I have a smart phone but don’t download apps normally, I’m sort of barebones, but thanks for the tip, I’ll look into it.
Some cities have put a flag on the pay station so you can see it from your car. I’ve never had an issue spotting them myself. I do much prefer the system where you enter you licence plate number rather than the parking space number, makes things a bit easier. As far as parking enforcement spotting violations, I’d assumed they would have an app or something that sorts most of that out being as all this is electronic…which would save plenty of time. Know anything about this Steve?
I don’t really have any issues with mixing in the individual meters myself. It takes coins and cards just like the other system. I’d call it more convenient given I don’t have to walk anywhere, just pay beside my car and go.
I’m not sure it saves much time for spotting violations since the person has to drive or walk to the car to issue the ticket anyway, so similar to driving by and seeing flashing light or red flag that the meter is expired. I think the real time savings is in collecting the loot, that is why I was wondering if that aspect hasn’t been privatized. In any case no amount of inconvenience for the public seems to be a concern to the powers that be, especially if it concerns money in the pockets of private industry.
I thought of another charming aspect of the pay stations, Soulard Market is busy Saturday morning and there are often lines of 5, 10 minutes or longer waiting times to get to pay station. Again not a very customer friendly system.