"Drivers get a break as parking tickets decline" by Peter Schworm and Matt Carroll | Globe Staff, March 11, 2012
The number of parking tickets issued in Boston has dropped nearly 13 percent during the past three years, a rare detente in the city’s parking wars that has spared drivers more than 200,000 citations, according to a Globe review of records.
In an era of strained budgets, the city might have been expected to intensify parking enforcement to bring in more revenue. Instead, the city has trimmed its fleet of parking officers and installed new card-friendly meters that have made it easier for drivers to pay.
“I know people don’t necessarily believe it, but we’re not all about revenue,’’ said Thomas Tinlin, commissioner of the city’s transportation department. “We look at tickets as a deterrent.’’
But for the legions of exasperated drivers who have come up a quarter short, run a couple of minutes late, or gone a bumper too far, the decline is a clear victory.
Tinlin cited a number of factors for the decline, such as increased use of public transportation and a greater effort by drivers to avoid tickets. Other major cities have experienced similar declines, he said.
“I don’t think it’s an enforcement issue at all,’’ Tinlin said. “I think it’s a change in behavior, which is our goal. It’s one more bill that’s frankly avoidable.’’
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Related: Parking It For the Night
WTF? I went outside and my Globe was gone!
