PPA Raising Convenience Fee For Paying Parking Tickets Online, By Phone
By Pat Loeb
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Drivers who park illegally in Philadelphia beware -- the Parking Authority has increased the convenience fee for paying tickets online or by phone.
PPA executive director Vince Fenerty says the increase -- a dollar per transaction -- is a simply pass-along cost:
"We get charged by the credit card company and our fees are going up and we have to watch our bottom line so the profits go to the city and the school district."
He says you can still mail your payment in the envelope provided for just the cost of a stamp, which seems fair to driver Ronald Smith:
"If you know you ain't supposed to park there, that's like a no-brainer, and I don't park where you're not supposed to park."
Smith said this while parked in front a fire hydrant.
"Unfortunately I'm waiting for my wife, I'm in front of a hydrant and everything," he tells KYW Newsradio.
Smith managed to get away without a ticket, but says he would have paid the higher fee:
"I agree totally with the parking authority."