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Seaport parking is expensive, but ...
By adamg on Wed, 07/22/2020 - 11:25am
Gary, of Gary's Liquors in West Roxbury, ventured out of his leafy bubble last night and drove down to the Seaport to enjoy a meal at Lola 42. Two hours later, he walked over to the Fan Pier Garage, put his ticket into the machine and was informed he owed $14,235 - which he could pay in cash.
He says that next time he goes to the restaurant, he'll ask if they validate.
In the meantime, he adds, he had to spend 30 minutes looking for an attendant, who marked his bill down to $18.
He said it was just a damaged ticket... I said "Ya think!"
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Comments
Hey - we gotta make our nut!
Gary's Liquors
Great little liquor store. Excellent selections and prices. And pleasant staff.
funny mistake
thats actually rent for a studio apartment in southie
Yeah...
...for two hours.
Sounds about right.
he'll ask if they validate
Pay only $5,000 max with validation.
"No, sir, that's not a mistake"
[Points to sign] "FIRST 30 MIN: $14,000"
Externalities Included
That's what a transit deficient place with too much parking costs society.
You laugh, but
all they have to do is find one bazillionaire who would rather just charge it on their AmEx Black Card, rather than go chase down the nonexistent attendant for half an hour, and they've paid their lease for the month.
He couldn’t find a meter on Summer
On a post-COVID Monday evening?
You just can't take the chance any more:
with variable pricing at the meters, the 14k might be the safer bet.
I know Gary...
He can afford it.
So can't I
but I can think of plenty of things I'd rather spend my money on than gifts to a parking garage landlord.
Who writes this software anyway?
Stupid software, not ready for prime time.
If the magstripe gets damaged, there should be a checksum. If there isn't, and the entry time somehow gets mangled to 500 days ago, this should set off "something's wrong" logic in the machine and call an attendant.
There's only been automated parking machines for how many decades now? They had plenty of time to think about these potential problems.
The other aspect is why would
The other aspect is why would the machine trust the ticket's version of reality. Could you manipulate the ticket in some way to create a negative balance reversing the money into your account?
Instead the system should note internally when the ticket is issued, and then note when it's processed for exit, and do all this on the backend of the system.
Way to pile up the card
Way to pile up the card points though!