Fix the MPA meters, please!
The Miami Parking Authority (MPA) has changed the meter rates and by doing that, they screwed up the whole system. In their favor of course.The bad new: they raised the rates to $1.50 per hour.
The good news: after 6 pm there is one flat rate: $2.00 for four hours.
American Express is nixed and only MasterCard and Visa are accepted. But here comes the problem -- the meters have been cheating everyone.
The other night I put $2 in the meter and I got a ticket with 14 minutes on it. I went to another meter and put in $2 and I got a ticket with 12 minutes on it.
I tried a credit card and it was declined. A lady came up to the meter and told me she had the same problem, the machines kept eating her money. This all was happening in the rain, by the way, so we stood like fools in the rain trying to pay for parking.
Later that night I ran into a friend who told me that he put two dollars in the meter the other day and he got a ticket that was expired already!
The other day, two people tried the meter, the one in front of the Guess store. It didn't work so they walked to another meter, when they came back, a ticket was already on their cars! This happened to a friend and man who was there at the same time, also trying to pay for parking. Both had the same experience -- ticketed while paying for parking at a meter that was not actually near their cars because since the meter near their cars was broken, they had to traipse around town look for a working meter.
Nine times out of 10 my credit card is declined. You would think I would have $3.00 available on my Visa, according to the MPA, I don't.
posted by Tom Falco at 10:00 AM
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14 Comments:
I was in the Design District on Monday and wondered why the meter said "$1.50/hr" and then charged me $2.00 and gave me 4 hours when I pressed the button for 1 hour. I thought for once that the meter worked in my favor but I guess I wasnt as lucky as I thought.
Check your credit card. . .I used my debit card one time and, even though it said it was declined, the money was still taken out of my account! This is a horrible system. . .
There's another glitch in the system.
If you go to a meter at 5:15 (or whatever time before 6:00) you pay $1.50 but it cuts you off at 6:00pm (not 6:15). So at 6 pm you have to go back and pay the $2 flat rate. They need to figure out a way to let you get your max parking time before 6:00pm.
The machines are far from perfect. In fact they are broken more often than working. However, I have found the MPA to be very responsive to any issues that I've had. You just need to be specific with all the facts and contact them, explaining exactly what happened and when.
The worst part of the system is when you only need 15 minutes, but you are stuck paying the flat rate. In some placed like downtown, the flat rate is $6.00 It is just another way to gouge the taxpayers.
regarding the responsive. Last year I received a ticket but had time according to the grace period. I documented it all and sent it to MPA it did not get there and I got another persons name with fax number. I resubmitted. I am now facing going to court over this non payment. Merry Xmas to all bah humbug Noriega!
ps if you get a courtesy parking with xmas tree on it like last year clear it before you drive in. Because the attendants did not accept them.
They should take down these meters and have teenage girls collect the money. Every guy around will pay them money for parking.
This also has happened to me several times with the machines by Flanigan's. They rarely work and when they do they don't work well.
Anon 3:41 is obviously in need of psychiatric help. Pedophile
MPA has a post on their blog about this issue. In the process of implementing the new parking discount there was a glitch in the system, but a fix is in the works. You can check it out at http://blog.miamiparking.com/
Parked on McFarlane Road next to Johnny Rockets last night for only a couple of minutes. Put in $0.35. The machine ate my money and said I had insufficient funds.
Nice system!
most of the machines we have tried in the Grove don't take bills, even perfectly good ones. They reject them and will only take a credit card. We have NEVER had the same problem or any other problem with the ones on Miami Beach. Why do theirs work and ours don't????
A machine on Grand Ave ate one of my bills today. The machines around Flanagan's never work. When I go to Flanagan's I have to go to at least three machines to pay for my parking. What pieces of junk. I can't believe they have the nerve to raise the rates during the holiday season in a recession. Not fixing the broken machines makes it even worse.
Wonder if this will work: why doesn't everyone print out the blog entry and all the comments and mail it to the mayor of Miami and copy the Herald? Or, better yet, go into the herald and paste all the comments in the letters site. I'm sure that if everyone were to do it, about 20-25 people, someone would react at the Herald and they would have an article similar to the one about the bus from the airport which got the new route.
Of course, instead of trying it, everyone is going to find excuses and reasons why it won't work. Yet, it probably will.
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