Has anyone checked out the ParkPlus trial area downtown yet?
Aside from the ParkPlus site saying that you do not need to get a sticker printed and then taken back to put on your car (you just register your license plate and what ‘zone’ on the block you are parked in), I wonder if it will otherwise resemble the system in this article ?
I presume that one of its business objectives for the kiosk is to generate as much parking revenue as possible. Unlike with traditional parking meters, where you might spot an empty space with time still on the meter, every person parking in this city must buy a separate kiosk sticker for his use of the parking space. Building a user interface that encourages drivers to buy more time than they need generates additional revenue for the city. A single parking space thus can generate revenue from multiple drivers concurrently if the first one bought more time than necessary.
As a user of the kiosk, though, my objective is to buy just the right amount of time that I need. This kiosk made it too easy for me to spend more than required. Sure, I could have calculated how much money to spend to buy just enough time, but not everyone wears a calculator watch.
Just like radar speed traps are not primarily a revenue stream for the police. Yeah, right.
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