New Parking Meters
Photos courtesy of DDOT
One of my biggest complaints about parking in the District in the meters. The older single meters require a whole satchel full of quarters, and the new ones have reliability problems in my experience, making parking a total crapshoot if you want to avoid a ticket. DDOT’s aware of the issues, and is looking for options to expand their current offerings. Look for meters like these above to spring up in five districts:
U Street/14th Street, NW (Ward 1)
2000 H Street, NW (Ward 2)
600 Indiana Avenue, NW (Ward 2)
5300 Wisconsin Avenue (Mazza Gallery) (Ward 3)
3500 John McCormick Road, NE (Catholic University/Brookland Metro) (Ward 5)
The new meters are quick to install, just two minutes, and fit over the existing change tanks, and better yet: they take Visa or Master Card, which means you can stop carrying roll upon roll of quarters. DDOT hasn’t said for sure if they’re also going to take advantage of the pay-by-phone option that these meters also accept.
I live and work in the District of Columbia. I write at We Love DC, a blog I helped start, I work at Technolutionary, a company I helped start, and I’m happy doing both. I enjoy watching baseball, cooking, and gardening. I grow a mean pepper, keep a clean scorebook, and wash the dishes when I’m done. Read Why I Love DC.
I’m not sure I trust DDOT meters with my credit card just yet.
I’ve found these to work decently thus far.
The new ones are very inconsistent. About half the time they’re out of order for me, no cards accepted.