As if the automated phone system that disconnects when supposedly transferring you to an actual person weren't enough, as if the fact that the PPA tells you you have eight days to pay a ticket and adds the penalty on the eighth day, apparently just after midnight, they've found a new way to reach into the pockets of otherwise law-abiding parking violators.

They now charge a $1 ``processing fee" for paying online! Although I'm not IT person, I would imagine there is more costly processing involved in handling paper checks sent via the mail or delivered in person. Thanks, Philadelphia Parking Authority!

Thank subcontracting for that. I imagine that soon enough it will rise to nearly $4 as they did with water bills. I have a property where the water isn't even turned on right now and I'm paying something like $25/mo. PLUS the $4 service fee just because they've lost my checks one too many times.

I think I noticed on my last parking ticket....which was last week....that the ticket said you now have 15 days to pay it. Was I seeing things?

I'm looking at my ticket from yesterday and it says 15 calendar days.

Now there's a contradiction in terms...

__________________
I'm Mr Brightside.

My mother has been in from out of town and the first thing we did was go to 3101 Market st and get her a temporary permit for zone 7.
We placed it on the back window as directed.
In the four days that she was here, she received two parking tickets for "over time limit".

I am assuming that because she has out of state license plates they just ticketed her anyway, thinking she won't contest the tickets.

She was on the phone immediately. What a waste!!

15 calendar days says mine (of course, I'm contesting it). Obviously, one of the qualifications that one needs in order to be a PPA "officer" is the inability to distinguish between 8's and 9's (like in 2008 vs 2009 on your inspection sticker). That's a skill that most 8 year olds possess.

You're right about the 15 days. That's a new and welcome change.

I said "otherwise" law-abiding, and let's remember, PPA not infrequently improperly tickets legally parked cars.

I had the same thing happen with a guest visiting from New York. Even with the temporary permit, he still received a parking ticket, most likely because the PPA person fixated only on his out of state plates. Fortunately for my guest, the PPA person also wrote down the wrong license plate number on the ticket, so the ticket never made it back to him. So apparently, in this situation the PPA person was too lazy to look at the temporary permit but also too dumb to write down the license plate number correctly, so everything worked out fine.

Hmm! It's an idea. I have several old license plates from different states (MI, PA, CT). Might be cheaper to put them on my parked car and let them ticket non-existing plates