Council Passes Greenfield’s Muni-Meter Bill

Councilman David Greenfield’s effort to pass legislation that would make muni-meters more fair unanimously passed in the Council yesterday. According to a press release, the new law will take place in 90 days, at which time the Department of Transportation will be responsible for reprogramming the meters to match the legislation.

We’ve previously reported on Greenfield’s efforts to reform muni-meter service that has vexed many drivers with unfair tickets. One aspect of the new legislation is that it requires machines to accept payments up to one hour before regulations go into effect. The idea is that people can park their cars and pay to arrive early for work or doctor’s appointments so they don’t have to run and pay the machine at precisely 9 a.m. The new legislation also would make machines refuse payment if they are out of receipt paper.

In the release, Greenfield hailed the measure’s passage as a win for drivers across the city.

“I’m proud to lead the fight in New York to end gotcha parking tickets. It is incredibly frustrating for New Yorkers to have to sit in their car until the parking restriction begins in the morning, or to feed the meter only to find out it is out of paper and can’t issue a receipt. This important legislation will help eliminate unfair tickets for drivers and represents an important step towards fixing our parking system,” said Councilman Greenfield.

Councilman Vincent Gentile, who was a co-sponsor of the legislation, also was adamant in his support for the measure.

“This piece of common sense legislation will effectively end all sorts of frustration for drivers across the city by taking advantage of existing technology,” Gentile said in a release.

The bill also makes muni-meters shut off and not accept payments when drivers are not required to pay for parking.