Why is this illegial?

[allison443]

"Feeding the meter" is illegal.

Meter parking is established for a "term" type of deal. One hour, two hours, four hours. The idea is that you are given the ability to park for that one term and then you should move along to allow others the opportunity to park. With meter parking, really, they don't not want people parking there all day. The meters are set up usually to allow for short shopping trips within an urban area. Staying at a 2 hour meter for longer than the 2 hours and then feeding the meter is illegal.

This is correct!
I sometimes park in the commuter lot at the train station. Those meters are 12 hours, some are 24 hours. Two hour meters are meant for two hours, there is a two hour parking limit.
It is really to benefit the businesses/stores-so the spaces "turn over" and potential patrons can find a place to park.

 

[allison443]

Are there signs posted that make it clear it is illegal to park in a spot for more than XXX hours or that it is illegal to add more money/time to your meter?

All the metered parking areas I see have signs posted saying "two hour parking limit" or whatever the limit is. Then it is usually stated on the meter itself as well.

OP you had good intentions and I think you were nice to try to save someone from a ticket.

 

[eliza61]

My guess is the car with the meter expired exceeded the parking time limit. Here meters have time limits 2 hour parking, etc. It's still another way for the city to make their $$.

but that doesn't make sense. If I park there for 3 hours (and feed the meter) or you park there, the amount of money is the same. Only one car can occupy that spot at a time.

 

[Christine]

but that doesn't make sense. If I park there for 3 hours (and feed the meter) or you park there, the amount of money is the same. Only one car can occupy that spot at a time.

As another poster stated above, it's usually done for business purposes to allow for a turnover of customers. While I realize everyone believes this law was made to make money for the government/city, it really wasn't intended to be that way. It was intended to give everyone a chance to park in a congested area and not to game the system by parking long-term in a place where the local businesses would benefit more from short-term parking.

 

[momrek06]

So "feeding the meter" is illegal"? Wow, had no idea AND I have watched PARKING WARS on Bravo as well. Never heard that mentioned.

OT, we are new to the OC...the parking meters all take credit cards! I really never saw that in Boston.

 

[Duckfan-in-Chicago]

So "feeding the meter" is illegal"? Wow, had no idea AND I have watched PARKING WARS on Bravo as well. Never heard that mentioned.

OT, we are new to the OC...the parking meters all take credit cards! I really never saw that in Boston.

There are no national parking meter laws in this country. People on the DIS speak in absolutes based on their own experiences. If it's illegal in Boston it might not be illegal in NYC or they might have 6 hour limits in San Fran.

It is not illegal here in Chicago. They have talked about this issue a few times on talk radio since the meters were sold to a private company at the start of the year and there is an increase in people paying other people's meters.

 

[Christine]

There are no national parking meter laws in this country. People on the DIS speak in absolutes based on their own experiences. If it's illegal in Boston it might not be illegal in NYC or they might have 6 hour limits in San Fran.

It is not illegal here in Chicago. They have talked about this issue a few times on talk radio since the meters were sold to a private company at the start of the year and there is an increase in people paying other people's meters.

It is illegal in Washington, DC. I assumed that it was illegal in the OP's area also due to the remark made by the meter cop.

 

[mjkacmom]

As another poster stated above, it's usually done for business purposes to allow for a turnover of customers. While I realize everyone believes this law was made to make money for the government/city, it really wasn't intended to be that way. It was intended to give everyone a chance to park in a congested area and not to game the system by parking long-term in a place where the local businesses would benefit more from short-term parking.

This is how it is in our town. All of the metered on the street parking and municipal lots have time limits. Most of our local business is located in the center of town, as is the HS. Therefore, there is an enforced time limit. Otherwise, kids would park in all of the spots all day, feeding the meter in between classes.

 

[C.Ann]

Interesting.. I never knew that..

 

[kaytieeldr]

However, it sounds to me like if you were feeding a meter that was just about expired, they asked you if it was your car & you said yes -- they wouldn't have a problem with it since the wording seems to be illegal to pay someone ELSE'S parking meter. I guess it all depends on where the area.

Eh, maybe not. More likely, the OP would have been told s/he'd have to move the car.

 

[disney1990]

How ironic. In my area of Maryland, they are running commercials on television about winning the Maryland lottery and what would you do with the money. One of the suggestions is to go around and put money in parking meters that are expired -- to be nice. If somebody told me that it was illegal, I would be going to court with that lottery commercial as my evidence.

But, I can see the time restrictions. However, if it is someplace that you can only park for 2 hours, how do you know that the original person put in money for 2 hours? Maybe they only put in money for 1 hour and were coming back to add more money. I do that all the time when I don't know how long I actually need the meter for.

 

[MAH4546]

It is illegal because a car can't stay longer than the maximum, even by putting more time in the meter. Some urban areas are strict about enforcement of this, most are not.

 

[princesspumpkin]

Just because the meter expired, doesn't mean the person was parked there for two hours (they could have only put in enough money for 30 minutes). The meter person would know if they track the car that's there, but a regular citizen may not.

On Parking Wars, a guy parked his car on a street for two hours (not a metered spot, but a two hour limit spot). HE then left for a short period of time and returned to the same street but in a different spot. The meter person gave him a ticket. When he questioned her, she said that when you park in a two hour limit spot, if you move your car, you have to move it OFF of the block when you re-park it.

 

[kaytieeldr]

You know, that actually makes sense princesspumpkin. Usually, there isn't a sign at each space - there's one at each end of a range of spaces, with arrows pointing toward each other.

It's not something I would have considered before, but it is reasonable. The signs designate a group of spaces, so it makes sense that just moving to another spot in the group isn't considered really moving.