Seattle working to fix malfunctioning parking meters
SEATTLE -- 2,200 stoic green monoliths, and most of them actually work. Sometimes.
The city of Seattle's parking meters in Capitol Hill have been malfunctioning for a week, and it has left drivers frustrated and confused.
"It makes noise, it just doesn't print," said Shelley Overman of Bellevue.
Overman jammed her credit card inside the machine on 11th Avenue and time and again, no sticker spat out.
The city says around 90 percent of drivers use cards for meters, but now an untold number of the 35,000 daily transactions aren't getting through. All because of cell phone towers.
"They talk to the bank all wirelessly and all those transactions happen in real time," said Mike Estey with the City of Seattle.
He says the vendor is working with backdoor programming to figure out why the 8-year old meters are malfunctioning.
The city says drivers should call the number of the side of the meter to get in touch with representatives. They can take down the person's name and if there is a ticket, the city will wipe the fine clean.
The city doesn't have a timeline for a fix yet.
The city of Seattle's parking meters in Capitol Hill have been malfunctioning for a week, and it has left drivers frustrated and confused.
"It makes noise, it just doesn't print," said Shelley Overman of Bellevue.
Overman jammed her credit card inside the machine on 11th Avenue and time and again, no sticker spat out.
The city says around 90 percent of drivers use cards for meters, but now an untold number of the 35,000 daily transactions aren't getting through. All because of cell phone towers.
"They talk to the bank all wirelessly and all those transactions happen in real time," said Mike Estey with the City of Seattle.
He says the vendor is working with backdoor programming to figure out why the 8-year old meters are malfunctioning.
The city says drivers should call the number of the side of the meter to get in touch with representatives. They can take down the person's name and if there is a ticket, the city will wipe the fine clean.
The city doesn't have a timeline for a fix yet.
Don't ya love clown town on a cold cloudy rainy day....
No one should pay to park right now. Â Then after they issue you a ticket for not paying...................... "They can take down the person's name and if there is a ticket, the city will wipe the fine clean". Â
I think the guy is actually looking for the "free blow dry with ticket purchase"Â button but I think hes' having a hard time finding it.
All those tickets should be null and void until the machines are fixed. I bet they get fixed pretty quick with the city isn't getting the revenue....
there is a website that has all the free spots in seattle. not gonna promote it but its pretty cool put in your location and it tells you where free parking is by you, has worked for me everytime
The cell phone tower tid bit is complete BS. On a side note, who in the world wants to call a rep. to park their car?
"All because of cell phone towers."
I call BS. I'm an FCC licensed radio technician and I work on cell equipment. If the device is making noise but not printing, the problem is internal. Most likely either a jammed printer or a bad glitch in the program.
 @Glassman Or a crappy antenna or driver for the antenna in the meter.
In the meantime, let's get the Parking enforcement/Swat/Revenue generators up there on their segways & ticket,ticket,ticket,impound inpound,impound!!!!
shop in Bellevue we dont have to pay to park!!!!!! you just have to pay a toll to get there..
Sméagol from Lord of the Rings?
 @Quarwhar My parking spot, my precious, they tooks it, my precious parking spot, yeeeeeesssss, tooks it they did.
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@DEV1ST8R LOL, if you haven't had that hair in Seattle once in your life then you haven't been here long enough.
I really am starting to wonder if there is anything in this city that actually works. Anything at all?
 @Zoso Certainly not the politicians.
LOL, there doesn't seem to be a thing the city does that isn't just about worthless...the taxpayers should be spitting nails for all the waste! I avoid Seattle like the plague and only venture there when absolutely necessary and when I do, I find a private lot or free spot because I will NOT give a red cent to the city! Just think, once they get more toll roads set up, with no way to ensure the millions of out of state and country visitors pay their fair share, maybe they can pay someone to do a study on how to find decent, working parking meters for the city. I'm sure it will require some kind of multi-million dollar, years long one to make sure it's done right...
Parking Meter haiku...
We want your money.
Please feed our green greed machine.
like a fine with that?