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A comment on Parking-app convenience fees in 312 U.S. cities (median $0.35 per session). Parent comment

Re:Parking-app convenience fees in 312 U.S. cities (median $... by wuuza on Monday November 09, 2026 @06:37PM (#50433945)
I have a stash of quarters in my car for parking and they are becoming useless. I have what is essentially an AOSP phone with no Google/Apple/app store - so I guess there's just some places I can't park? It's a pre-paid plan so I can't text the shortcode to pay, and I don't pay for data so even if the web is an option it won't work unless there's free wifi in the area. Whatever happened to accepting legal tender? At least if the meter accepts a tap-to-pay card I can only be beholden to a credit card company and not additionally a cell carrier and one of the app duopoly. (Yes, I'm <1%; what's your inclusive answer?)
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Parking-app convenience fees in 312 U.S. cities (median $... by ryandrake on Monday November 09, 2026 @06:59PM (#50434176)
More and more, governments are failing to provide a satisfying answer to "What if the person doesn't have a smartphone?" You should not need to buy a mandatory device in order to exist in society.
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Re:Parking-app convenience fees in 312 U.S. cities (median $... by asdff on Monday November 09, 2026 @10:06PM (#50435578)
Even having one is of course no guarantee that yours will be functional at the present moment.
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Re:Parking-app convenience fees in 312 U.S. cities (median $... by alex0015 on Tuesday November 10, 2026 @04:40AM (#50438005)
Yes, there's just some places you can't park. There are places everywhere you can't park if you don't belong to specific groups or meet certain requirements. You can't park in the perfectly good loading zone or fire lane, you can't park in front of a fire hydrant, you can't park in the City Vehicles Only spot, you can't park in the Employees Only spot, you can't park in the Patrons of X Business Only spot. You can't park in the places where a permit is required if you don't have the permit. And you can't park in the places where a temporary pass needs to be purchased if you're not able to purchase the pass.

I constantly go back and forth mentally between "you should be able to handle everything in public without a phone or computer" vs "people should not need to design systems to cater to every single edge case." For what it's worth, I also hate the parking apps and I'm grateful that all the parking in my area is tap to pay without involving my phone.

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Re:Parking-app convenience fees in 312 U.S. cities (median $... by steelframe on Tuesday November 10, 2026 @11:28AM (#50442631)
There are some battles worth fighting. One of them is a society that functionally forces you to be a customer of Apple, Google, and/or VISA/MC in order to be able to perform essential functions like buy a croissant or park your car.
[ Parent | on HN ]