Guess whom I ran into at the Home and Garden show yesterday? The same guy that I ran into at the Auto Show. Of course I am referring to a ticketing police officer who happened to be tagging anyone that was instrumental in setting up for either show. Once again there were furious people inside the Convention Center asking (out loud) why they even bother coming into the city. What’s really incredible is that this story has a happy ending… not for the guy who got the ticket (above), but for anyone who worries about constantly feeding the meters. Peggy Beardsley (below), Associate Director of Buffalo Place, was nice enough to shed some light on a ‘personal parking meter’ that anyone can purchase from the city that works along the same lines as an Easy Pass. Who knew?
A personal parking meter is a small device that is used by the motorist to pay for on-street parking fees. It is used by the motorist instead of traditional devices such as parking meters, pay & display machines etc. The parking time is charged by the minute giving the customer a fair and easy payment method.
An In-Car Meter? The city offers this device to its citizens with the intention of making life/parking easier. So why is it that no one seems to know anything about system? It turns out that for an initial ‘investment’ of $65 (the amount of 2 tickets paid on time), the device (and the city) can be yours. Peggy was kind enough to explain how the In-Car Meter (also known as Smart Park) works. She told me that after shelling out $65, you are issued a machine and a card that can be used to store increments of $15 sums. Peggy works downtown, so it is in her best interest to purchase the maximum $100 card so as not to have to go back to reload the card.
Peggy also clued me in to a ‘trick of the trade’ that is a great fringe benefit once you possess the device. Parking meters are divided into zones depending on the timed parking durations marked on the respective block’s signs. If you park at a zone that requires $2 for 10 hours of parking (see photo), and you end up leaving that spot, your In-Car Meter will record the information and signal ‘paid’ even when your car is moved to a new meter. The only condition is that the zones must be of the same numbered code to carry over the remaining time.
The In-Car Meter does not signal the street meter for the officer to read. It signals the officer directly by means of an easy-to-read LCD screen that flashes the date, the time and the zone. The highly visible bright yellow device hangs from the car’s rear view mirror, which makes me wonder how it was that today was the first time that I had ever seen one. Peggy purchased her In-Car Meter over a year ago and swears that it has made parking around town a dream. The device works at all meters since the street meter really becomes obsolete in the process. It’s a wonder that more people don’t know about the system.
Want to see how easy it really is? Well, just check this out. Interested in finding out how to obtain the In-Car Meter? Call 716-851-5182.