Friday, April 18, 2014

Gimme Shelter

 New shelters have large signage and overhead lighting

The Amherst DPW has installed shelters to enclose the parking payment machines around town, making the system a tad more user friendly.  The town switched over to the machines (which take credit cards) in the winter of 2011, but to a rough start.


 All around DPW installing machines in the downtown on Thursday

The directions were a tad confusing -- especially since the machines do not spit out receipts -- and the tiny screens, which are not backlit, especially hard to read at night. 

The shelters cost $13,000 but since the system generates $8,500 per week in parking meter fees, they should pay for themselves in only a couple weeks.




19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love your headline! Gimme shelter! Lol!

Larry Kelley said...

Showing my age.

Anonymous said...

do the new shelters have light? not being able to see the machine displays at night has been a big issue for me at some of them.

Larry Kelley said...

Yes. That big white overhead dome is the light.

Anonymous said...

Speaking of age, and the related vision & finger speed issues, if you aren't able to rapidly enter all the digits of your parking space quickly, it goes into some funky admin mode and stops working for 5/10 minutes.

By the time the parking person has shown up, it has reset back to normal and this is why they can't figure out why people have problems using it.

Anonymous said...

Interesting that it took from the winter of 2011 until now (it is 2014, right?) to add basic 'comforts' for the patron. Did any of the administration get a raise during that time?

Anonymous said...

"comfort" for the patron or for the machines?

I can't help but think that these machines don't particularly like being exposed to rain, snow & ice -- computers really don't work so well when they get wet.

Anonymous said...

Exactly, but if the machine doesn't work correctly, it's uncomfortable for the patron. And light to read is a really big deal (for humans).

Walter Graff said...

These machines work but are completely confusing to those who don't know how to use the, They lack proper instructions. I think one reason they generate so much income is I've seen people push and push until they are ringing up a few bucks for what only needs to be 50 cents.

They are old cellular technology but then again in big cities they are not much better. If only they clearly said type in your number then enter the money and the spot will add time, no receipt is given.

Oh and as for the comment about how long they sat out uncovered, yes they are faded now. Better late than never. Probably took so long because it took a multi-year study to figure out if they were needed. But then again, a few years is major progress in Amherst. What other town builds a parking garage that makes parking worse in the town. That's hard to find.

Anonymous said...

but if the machine doesn't work correctly, it's uncomfortable for the patron

I have an issue with no receipt being given. What moral authority does the town have to argue that someone failed to pay for something when the town fails to give the motorist any means of confirming that he/she/it actually did?

That is what receipts are for -- not just to challenge an allegation that one didn't pay but confirmation to the individual that proper payment was made & credited.

This is where the way UM students are treated drifts into becoming the way that all citizens are treated. Amherst takes a "sucks to be you" attitude toward the students, who are presumed to be in the wrong regardless of if they actually are, and this is an example of how that attitude becomes the way everyone is treated.

Tom McBride said...

Is that $8,500 a week in fees and fines, or just parking fees?

Larry Kelley said...

That's just fees. Tickets are about half that per week.

Tom McBride said...

That's an excellent system. Vegas could learn something.

Yokal said...

That's right, only in Amherst is putting a shelter over the machine that replaced the person to shake you down to park on the public streets the most important thing.

I am glad that everyone in Amherst has a home and good food, that we can move on to "issues" like this one.

Larry, that money the parking makes was already allocated. The real savings and what pays for these machines and their umbrellas is the employees the town was able to get rid of because the machines do their jobs for them.

Soon the machines will require your personal info and the spaces will have weight sensors and they wont have to even check the machines for violators.

And then robots will be writing the blogs too....

Larry Kelley said...

Actually the machines replaced old coin fed parking meters, so no employees have been lost due to their adoption.

Besides, the Transportation Fund takes in as much money in "parking violations" and "parking fines" as it does in "meter fees" and "permit fees".


And it's the Parking Enforcement crews who hand out the tickets.

Dr. Ed said...

Besides, the Transportation Fund takes in as much money in "parking violations" and "parking fines" as it does in "meter fees" and "permit fees".

I'm not surprised. You install machines which are (a) difficult for many people (including myself) to use, (b) give no indication if one has properly used them or not and then (c) mess up with some degree of frequency -- this is one heck of a racket.

I was always taught that one basic principle of Western law is that the citizen must be physically able to that which the law commands he/she/it do or not do. Otherwise it is not a legitimate law.

At least ethically, if not legally, that should apply here. At the very least the machines should offer a receipt to anyone who wishes one -- the citizen should have the right to know that he/she/it has successfully complied with the law.

This is where the downtown merchants and the BID need to speak up because the town makes money when the machines don't work properly and/or when people have difficulty operating them.

And to preclude yet more snarky attacks, let me add that the hands of a commercial fishermen tend to resemble the feet of a ballerina, and for pretty much the same reasons. Except that the ballerina isn't attempting to use her toes to operate the parking machine...

Anonymous said...

I used one of those machines behind Lone Wolf a couple of years ago and lost my money because it didn't register what I put in and I had no receipt. Got a parking ticket instead. Thanks but no thanks. I'll find a free space and walk the rest of the way.

Dr. Ed said...

It also strikes me that an intrepid attorney would have one heck of a class action suit, with the Town of Amherst having (and being able/required to provide the name & means to contact every member of the class -- those who have received parking tickets).

It's not worth even the filing fees for one person to go to superior court to challenge a parking ticket -- but a class action lawsuit could be quite lucurative...

Anonymous said...

these machines are so easy to use, it baffles me when people are confused