Complaints about broken D.C. parking meters soared last year by nearly 40 percent over 2006, for a total of more than 94,000.
The District chalks the increase up to better reporting, but one activist blames the failing mechanical systems in the city’s roughly 16,500 coin-operated meters.
The Department of Transportation registered 94,049 service requests for broken meters in 2007, up from 67,813 in 2006 and 58,954 in 2005. But Karyn LeBlanc, DDOT spokeswoman, said there’s no evidence that the equipment is breaking down more frequently.
“DDOT is proactively working with local [business improvement districts] and other groups in addition to our own inspections and have implemented an improved reporting system so we can have a more accurate count on meter issues,” LeBlanc said.
Terry Lynch, executive director of the Downtown Cluster of Congregations, accused DDOT of being in a “complete state of denial” on its meter problems.
“The meters need to go,” said Lynch, who closely tracks parking meter issues. “They’re a piece of junk, and the calls for service demonstrate that. The public knows it, and DDOT seems to be the only one that doesn’t recognize they’re a piece of junk.”
The majority of single-space meters were installed in 1997, LeBlanc said, and some of those will soon be replaced with the computerized multispace meters that accept credit cards in addition to coins. The overriding problem with the older meters is not mechanical breakdowns, she said, but rather jams caused by people shoving paper clips, gum and foreign coins in the coin slots.
The District’s meters are managed by Affiliated Computer Services under a five-year, $20 million contract adopted in 2006. LeBlanc said ACS meets the 72-hour benchmark for fixing meters more than 90 percent of the time.
A report of the D.C. auditor from February 2007 told a very different tale. ACS, the auditor found, “failed repeatedly to repair parking meters within the 72-hour period,” but D.C. continued issuing tickets nevertheless. The review also revealed that up to half of all D.C. parking meters were either missing, broken or defaced.
The District collects about $16 million a year from its meters.
Complaint calls in 2007
» Bulk collection: 51,641
» Parking enforcement: 34,754
» Street repair: 9,164
» Sidewalk repair: 4,039
» Dead animal: 2,562
» Illegal dumping: 2,680
» Alley repair: 1,397
