City of Chicago considering elimination of "piggybacking" on parking meters

Chicago Tribune reports that the city is considering eliminating "piggybacking" at the parking meter.

Getting the good fortune of parking your car and noticing that the previous occupant left some time remaining on the meter will be a thing of the past. City officials call that a lost opportunity to collect additional money.

Of course, the notion of physically plugging meters with coins will be a thing of the past. New York City has already set up a Muni-Park system where you can go to a parking machine along the street, select the amount of time needed, then you pay with either coins or a credit card. The machine will print out a parking slip, and you put it on your vehicle's dashboard.

For Chicago, their idea is the ParkMagic automated parking meter. First you find an available parking space. Then the driver needs to use his or her mobile phone to call a toll-free phone number. An automated voice prompts the user to enter the parking zone number posted on the meter and then designate the amount of time needed to park. A confirmation, in the form of a text message, is sent to the device, and the parking fee is deducted from the balance in the account.

Your pager-size device will start to flash green when parking has been paid for and red when time has expired. You can call the toll-free number to add more time. Then the device must be placed in the driver's side windshield so police and other parking-enforcement personnel can check to see whether the vehicle is legally parked.

It sounds a bit more complicated. It would be useful for those drivers that frequently drive to the city, but for the rest, utilizing the muni-system that NYC has is much more suitable.

Cleveland may also consider following suit. I keep getting jipped when I parked along the street behind KSL, and I am always low on quarters. Setting up a parking machine where it can accept cash and credit cards will be quite helpful for the coinless driver.