All the Laws you Ought to know before Parking at a Muni-Meter

 Summary of the muni-meter Laws

The wonderful warm winds of change have engulfed the muni-meter parking scene in NYC. Kudos to the NYC Council for taking action to right some wrongs foisted on the driving community by nonsensical muni-meter parking customs invented by the Evil Empire to feed the NYC budget beast.

Let’s take each new law one parking law at a time.

1. The 5-Minute Grace Period

Did you make the mistake of cogitating this wonderful snooze alarm law only applied to street cleaning rules? (I did). Well, the 5-Minute Grace Period Law applies to parking at Muni-meters, too. The driving community has 5 minutes appended to the end of the time displayed on a Muni-meter receipt to move their chariot. In other words, if time is purchased from 10A to 11A, a parking ticket warrior is prohibited from issuing a parking ticket until 11:00 am. Yea!

“Effective March 21, 2010, drivers will get a 5-minute grace period past the expired time on Muni-Meter receipts, Alternate Side Parking signs, and any other parking spaces with specific times listed (e.g. 8:30 am – 9:30 am). During this 5-minute grace period, parking tickets cannot be issued.” [Via NYC Council Website]

Here’s Larry’s Blog post explaining the 5-Minute Grace Period applies to Muni-meters.

2. Failure to display a muni-meter receipt

Have you ever thought you placed a muni-meter receipt face up on the dashboard, returned to your chariot only to find a parking ticket, and your muni-meter receipt face down on the dash; or on the floor of your car? I have.

There were parking ticket judges rightfully dismissing a “failure to display” parking ticket upon proof of a valid muni-meter receipt; while other judges were ordering drivers to walk the plank for this parking violation. The purpose of the parking rule was to punish sneaky drivers for failing to pay for parking, and not too brave heart drivers who paid and failed to display a receipt.

Weep no more…The new law requires all parking ticket judges to dismiss parking tickets for failure to display muni-meter receipts upon proof of purchase:

“…of a valid muni-meter receipt with an official start time stamp and such start time is no later than five minutes after the time of the issuance of such notice, or other suitable evidence as determined by the hearing officer that such a receipt was purchased, shall be an affirmative defense to such a violation.”

3. Parking ticket warriors empowered to cancel muni-meter parking tickets

NYC Council fixed the evil mandate of fighting a muni-meter parking ticket despite possessing a valid Muni-meter receipt:

“Any agent who issues a notice of violation by electronic means for failure to pay the metered fare shall cancel such notice of violation when, not later than five minutes after the issuance of such notice, such agent is shown a valid muni-meter receipt with an official start time stamp and such start time is no later than five minutes after the time of the issuance of such notice.”

However, a warrior only has five minutes to cancel the parking ticket, and a muni-meter parking ticket issued by hand cannot be canceled (but will be dismissed upon application and submission of a valid Muni-meter receipt).

“…The electronic system used by the agent to issue such notice shall be programmed to prohibit such notice from being canceled later than five minutes after the issuance of such notice.” [Section 1. Chapter 2 of title 19 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new section 19-21]

4. Parking at a broken Muni-meter

Parking is permitted for free at a broken Muni-meter as long as there are no other working muni-meters in a parking field. Clear as the nose on your face, right?! Well, maybe not. What is the meaning of a “parking field?” Here’s what the  “official NYC Website” has to say about parking at a broken muni-meter:

5. Transferring muni-meter time

You paid for the muni-meter time…it is now officially portable. The NYC Council enacted a law removing any doubt or discretion from the Evil Empire to take your hard-earned dough for applying a muni-meter receipt purchased in one parking field and using the receipt to pay for time in another parking field where the parking rates are equal or less. Here is the text of the law:

“§19–167.2 Transfer of muni-meter time.”

a. For the purposes of this section, the term “muni-meter” shall mean an electronic parking meter that dispenses timed receipts that must be displayed in a conspicuous place on a vehicle’s dashboard. b. Parking time that is purchased at a muni-meter shall be valid for use during such time at any parking space where parking meter rules are in effect, provided that:

1. the parking meter rate at such parking space is the same as or less than the rate at the location where such parking time was purchased;

2. the vehicle is not parked at such parking space in excess of the maximum amount of time parking is authorized at such parking space as indicated on posted signs. For purposes of this paragraph, the length of time a vehicle is parked at a parking space shall be calculated from the time such parking time was purchased, as indicated on the muni-meter receipt; and 3. the vehicle is not otherwise parked in violation of any law or rule.

§19–167.2 “§19–167.2 Transfer of muni-meter time.”

a. For the purposes of this section, the term “muni-meter” shall mean an electronic parking meter that dispenses timed receipts that must be displayed in a conspicuous place on a vehicle’s dashboard. b. Parking time that is purchased at a muni-meter shall be valid for use during such time at any parking space where parking meter rules are in effect, provided that:

1. the parking meter rate at such parking space is the same as or less than the rate at the location where such parking time was purchased;

2. the vehicle is not parked at such parking space in excess of the maximum amount of time parking is authorized at such parking space as indicated on posted signs. For purposes of this paragraph, the length of time a vehicle is parked at a parking space shall be calculated from the time such parking time was purchased, as indicated on the muni-meter receipt; and

3. the vehicle is not otherwise parked in violation of any law or rule. Transfer of muni-meter time.

a. For the purposes of this section, the term ‘muni-meter’ shall mean an electronic parking meter that dispenses timed receipts that must be displayed in a conspicuous place on a vehicle’s dashboard.

    b. Parking time that is purchased at a muni-meter shall be valid for use during such time at any parking space where parking meter rules are in effect, provided that:

    1. the parking meter rate at such parking space is the same as or less than the rate at the location where such parking time was purchased;

    2. the vehicle is not parked at such parking space in excess of the maximum amount of time parking is authorized at such parking space as indicated on posted signs. For purposes of this paragraph, the length of time a vehicle is parked at a parking space shall be calculated from the time such parking time was purchased, as indicated on the muni-meter receipt; and

    3. the vehicle is not otherwise parked in violation of any law or rule.’ “

Commentary

Learning is relentless repetition. I’ve written a bunch of blog posts about all the new gifts bestowed upon the driving public by the NYC Council. Here they are in all their glory. Commit these muni-meter laws to memory and apply them when needed. I promise it will keep your money where it belongs…in your wallet.

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