A couple of years back, tired of getting tickets whenever I found myself without spare change for the meters (which was often, since I conduct few transactions with cash these days), I took the advice of one of y’all — I think it was Kathryn — and got myself a SmartCard.
I carry it with me always, and top it up whenever it gets low.
But you know what? It’s of no help at all if you don’t actually use it.
This morning, I went for my usual breakfast, and sat there eating and reading my iPad, and right about the time I decided to have a second cup because I hadn’t gotten around to reading all the papers yet (I’d gotten sidetracked trading comments with some of y’all while eating), it suddenly struck me — I hadn’t slipped the card into the meter.
Sure enough, I had an $8 ticket when I got down to the street.
This probably happened because I’ve had relatively early (I say “relatively” because I still work roughly the hours I did as an editor at a morning newspaper, which makes a meeting at 8 or even 9 “early” for me) appointments all week, which means I was done with breakfast and gone well before they start checking the meters at 9, so I didn’t have to use the card before today.
But that’s a poor excuse. I’m pretty irritated with myself over this…
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For those of us who live “in the provinces,” what exactly is a “smart card”?
Well, I linked to information about it above.
It’s a card you buy from the city, and you slip it into the special card slot on the parking meter to pay for your time, instead of putting coins into the coin slot. The way it works is, when you first slip it in, you get a readout telling you how much money you have left on the card. Then, “20” (as in minutes) flashes on the screen, then “40,” then “1:00,” and you pull out the card when it gets to how much time you want to pay for.
When you run out of money on your card, you drop by the Parking Services office on Washington Street and top it up.
Was me…
Sorry I didn’t click the link. Boo me. 😉
Technically, you were a stupid parker!
The bummer is that you have to pay at 8 for an hour you won’t use. Why not try harder to finish before 9?
Well, I did everyday before Friday. But I was taking it easy on Friday, not having any morning meetings…
I got one of those cards as a Christmas present. It’s invaluable for me, as I’m always having to park in the metered spots around the Richland County Courthouse. Great innovation.
and you get a discount on parking!
And it’s $8 now. The ticket, I mean.
You could call John David Spade and beg!
Or call Lindsey Graham and ask him for amnesty since you were only trying to find a better parking spot for your car. Your heart was in the right place and you were eating a meal no one else was willing to eat.
Why not just take the bus?
Surely you jest, Silence.. one doesn’t RIDE the bus, one just calls for tax increases so others can ride the bus.
One does not simply ride the bus into Mordor (Columbia, SC).
First, the bus doesn’t run to my house.
Second, while I’ll ride the bus when its really convenient, as in London, it’s never been the kind of mass transit I truly love. I love subways. I know we’re never going to have a subway system in Columbia — certainly not one that would take me everywhere I need to go — so I have to accept that the closest we’re going to get is a better bus system.
I look forward to seeing that better bus system arise. Perhaps it will get to the point that it would be a practical mode of transportation for me. But in the meantime, yes, I’m quite happy to pay more in taxes so that it’s a better system for the portion of our community that relies on it.
I doubt that, even if we spent the entire penny on buses, which we cannot legally do, we would ever have a system as awesome as the one in London.
And I don’t just mean because they’re double-deckers. It was just so easy to find out which bus to take, and when it was coming, to get to wherever you wanted to go.
Still, while the buses there provided good sight-seeing opportunities, I took the Tube wherever I could, just as I do in New York when I’m there. There’s just something magical about a subway. You walk down some steps, ride a few minutes, walk up some steps, and you’re way across town. Whereas in a bus or a cab, you’re limited by the traffic…