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Flexible meters made for 21st century needs
Editor:
It was reported that Berkeley's parking meters are being jammed in order to park cars longer. That can be remedied with electronic parking meters that enable the city to charge for parking the way cars are now charged in the automatic bay bridge tolls.
Cars would have devices that record the charges. That way, drivers could park as long as they wished, with no time limit. The meter charge would vary according to the amount of crowding typical for the time of day. The meter charge should be just high enough so that a driver can usually find parking within a block.
So besides not worrying about the time, the flexible times and charges would eliminate parking congestion. Meters could also have parking meters for such charging. Let's move away from obsolete 20th century coin parking with fixed times and rates, to 21st century flexible electronic meter charging.
Fred Foldvary
Berkeley
