Parking Tickets
I received a $25 parking ticket at the Walnut Creek station for not paying my $1 parking fee. I did pay the fee but mistakenly typed in stall #88 instead of #87. I understand the ticket, but when I contested it,(which was sent the very next day with my paid parking receipt as proof of payment) I received a notice that said something about "beyond reasonable doubt". Now, how can that be? If the guy in stall paid his fee, wouldn't there be two payments for one stall?
I can still appeal this fine but BART wants me to pay the fine first beforehand and they would reimburse me if overturned. Like I'm ever going to see that money again!
BART parking is just one big scam to extract more money from us. People make mistakes and should not be screwed over like this.
I agree completely with you.
I agree completely with you. I was told that as long as I had my receipt that I showed I did pay, they would likely drop the ticket. Now that was like 8 months ago. Based on what you are telling us, they won't drop the ticket unless overturned later? It sucks that you did pay and yet you are being punished. You might as well have committed a crime instead because they are treating you like you did. YES, I see the SCAM!
bartside
Next time see the CSo that
Next time see the CSo that works that station. They could have dismissed your citation on the spot. In the future, if you make the same mistake you now know what to do.
Thanks for the advice. Will
Thanks for the advice. Will do if it happens again. I'm going to appeal this one in person...for the principle of it.
I'm sorry to hear that, but
I'm sorry to hear that, but the problem is that you could just walk up to a parking validation, pull out someone else's receipt (there are always a few thousand of them sitting there) and claim you paid. Obviously, this requires more work than it is worth to save a dollar once you mail in your receipt, write a letter, etc and they would eventually catch on to the fact that you ALWAYS seem to type in the wrong stall number, but at what point do you draw the line? one infraction a year? one a month? and how do you easily track that sort of stuff? it is much easier for them to just fine you.
true but the odds of me
true but the odds of me finding stall #87's receipt are infinitesimal. They are just being a-holes and are trying to scam the public for any money they can get.
yes, but you said you typed
yes, but you said you typed 88 instead of 87, so your arguement was basically that you paid for 88 but parked in 87.
i'd bet that if i grabbed a handful of receipts from the validation machine i could find one that is pretty close to my actual number. maybe not one number off, but something like this: say i parked in 201. out of my handful of receipts i could probably find one of the following: 2201, 102, 221, 211, 101, 102, 202, 200, etc. all of these are fairly close and could easily have been typed in accidentally if i was rushing or just plain forgot the correct stall number.
and as far as having the booth wipe out your ticket on the spot, is that really true? i once totally forgot to pay, but i had proof that i took bart that day via my bart ticket and the fact that i was still in the station. when i got back to my home station, i asked the booth and they said it was beyond their control. additionally, when i got the ticket, i thought i remember it coming from a third party vendor, not from bart or a state run agency. it was a couple years ago, however, so i might be mixing it up with some other parking ticket.
I stand corrected but my
I stand corrected but my point is, what are the odds of finding the receipt of the stall that I parked next to? Besides, there should have been two paid fees for #88. All they have to do is look at their log for proof.
very true. the odds have to
very true. the odds have to be about 1 in a million that you 1) entered the station 2) purposely didn't pay, 3) found a receipt with a stall number very similar to the spot you used and 4) two different people happened to park in and pay for that stall number before 8:00AM.
furthermore, you have proof that you were in the station via your bart ticket - what would be the point of purposely not paying $1, when it is going to cost you more than $1 in stamps mailing correspondence back and forth and probably a couple hours of your time wasted as well.
if they use a 3rd party to collect the fines, i doubt that 3rd party has records of the stall numbers that were paid that day, only the ones that were not paid. if they don't have information regarding how many times that single stall was paid for and when the payments occured, but instead only have a receipt from you with a stall number close to where your car was ticketed, i agree with them that you didn't prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you really paid. plus, the 3rd party is like a collection agency. they probably only get paid when they collect. to dismiss your ticket without you coming up with the correct stall # receipt is like throwing away revenue. much easier and cheaper to send you a form letter saying "tough luck buddy, pay up"
The booth cannot dismiss
The booth cannot dismiss your ticket, but the CSO can if you have proof of validation. Furthermore, BART issues the citations, but another agency processes them and collects on them.
File a discovery request for
File a discovery request for stall #87's receipt. They have to provide it or the case will be thrown out.
what will that prove? that
what will that prove? that two people validated spot #87? how does that prove that the car parked in spot #88 was parked legally? maybe it would work, but i don't think it really proves anything.
Ok, here's the deal. If you
Ok, here's the deal. If you type in the wrong stall number, take your receipt IMMEDIATELY to the station agent's booth and notify the agent. The agent will then do one of two things: 1. Write your stall number in a log that the CSO checks before she cites or 2. Call the CSO directly and advise her. (Some mean agents will make you pay again, considering it a life lesson that you must pay for your mistakes. Most will let you get away with the mistake if it doesn't happen often.)
If you have waited until you return to the station and have already received a ticket, again contact the agent, who will then contact the CSO. If the CSO has already gone home for the day, either an available officer can take care of it, or you can contact the CSO the following day. YOU MUST HAVE YOUR RECEIPT AND TICKET WITH YOU OR NOTHING CAN BE DONE ABOUT IT.
People make mistakes. If you do nothing about it until after the ticket is processed, I don't feel bad for you.
Here's why. Tickets are processed by an outside agency. This outside agency is also the one who decides if your ticket can be dismissed after they've processed it. As they are the deciding agency, BART can no longer do much about it.
Check your stall number before you finish your transaction; it saves you the headache later. If you hit the wrong number, press the "*" key to clear out the digit. And, as always, if you have a problem, tell the agent.
--BART CSO
Thanks for the helpful
Thanks for the helpful information. How was I supposed to know about this before? It's not like it's posted anywhere or on the ticket. Obviously, the tickets are a cash cow for BART.
BTW, someone at the outside agency must have a heart because they overturned their previous decision and waived the ticket!