A Case for Abolishing Parking Tickets

Anam Ardeshiri has himself been the victim of one of the great tragedies of urban parking. He’s parked his car – in this case in Baltimore – and then returned to it a mere two minutes after the meter expired, only to find a $32 ticket waiting for him.

Legions of drivers can undoubtedly relate. But pity the meter maid who gives a parking ticket to a doctoral candidate in transportation and urban infrastructure studies. "I believe that for two minutes more, using this facility shouldn’t cost me 32 dollars," argues Ardeshiri, a Ph.D. student at Morgan State University. "It should cost at most one dollar, two dollars – and I’m willing to pay. But if it turns to 32 dollars, it’s not fair." The punishment, he figures, doesn’t match the crime. And there is something arguably unfair about a citation system that punishes the guy who’s one minute late in the same way as the scofflaw who overstays his parking meter all day.