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I work out near Bush River road. There have been several times (a spur of the moment type thing) I felt like going downtown to the Vista or Main st for lunch but didnt have any coins on me to park. Depending on where I park and end up wanting to eat, it's not worth it to walk all the way to the restaurant to get change then walk back to the meter. Often, I don't have any dollar bills on me anyway. So I just usually end up not going downtown and try to remember to get some change, which I usually forget to do.
The major drawback I see putting credit and debit card swipable devices on meters is the transaction costs. There's a reason why many bars have a $10 minimum. Perhaps an alternative for those who live in the city would be for the city to have a card system that you could load money to online or something in $10 increments. Or maybe Columbia just isn't big enough to make this a worthwhile venture.
Have many larger cities made their meters more user-friendly in this increasingly cashless era?
They've had this for awhile. I carry one in my wallet. Some of the garages also accept credit/debit, such as the one on Washington and Lincoln which is convenient to the Vista.
Thanks for the info. I will buy one of these cards, as I hate parking in parking garages, especially just for lunch. Funny I haven't noticed this "slot" on the actual meters themselves. Guess I haven't been too observant.
I park in the Lincoln/Washington garage all the time for that reason. It's usually fairly empty at lunchtime on weekdays, and it's free if you're there for less than an hour.
I'd be happier if they went away entirely. I have a sneaking suspicion that the real reason for keeping them is that they need the revenue to pay for the meter maids.
They should just get rid of them all together. If Greenville can go without parking meters, why can't Columbia?
Well, it was in the news just the other day that tensions are rising over parking in downtown Greenville. Columbia merchants claim that without the meters, people stay too long. Opinions on parking meters are all over the place. For me personally, I wish they would go to 90-minute parking, but they might know something I don't know.
I was in downtown Asheville, NC a couple weeks ago and noticed they now have "Pay-By-Phone" parking meters. There is a $.25 fee per use but I think that's a small price to pay to be able to use the parking meters without having to use coins or swipe a credit/debit card.
The app will even remind you 15 minutes before your meter is going to expire and I wish Columbia had something similar.
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