EVLN: EVSE Cash Cow> Raleigh NC EV-Spot #378 Generates $27k In Fines % IMO another incorrectly located EVSE installation, should be at least-wanted spots %
http://www.thestate.com/2014/12/22/3888195/gas-guzzlers-cant-stay-out-of.html Gas guzzlers can't stay out of electric-only parking in Raleigh December 22, 2014 By ANDREW KENNEY,The News & Observer(Raleigh, N.C.) RALEIGH --- People can't seem to resist Raleigh's electric-vehicle parking and charging spots --- even when they're driving gas guzzlers. A sign next to each of the city's 23 special spaces warns that gasoline-powered vehicles blocking the charger will get a $50 ticket. Yet fuel-burners just keep coming, especially to spot No. 378, which may be the most frequent site of parking tickets in Raleigh. In fact, the Fayetteville Street space has produced parking fines more often than it has charged vehicles --- to the tune of about $27,000 in fines --- according to city records for a one-year period that ended in November. In that year, the city cited people about 540 times for parking gasoline-powered vehicles in the single space, which is on the 200 block of downtown's central street. (A map of local chargers is available at bit.ly/wake-ev.) That's about 1.5 tickets per day for this particular spot, and they're more costly than the $20 ticket for an expired meter. Dan St-Germain, a freelance driver for Uber, saw so many people cited that he decided to become the spot's guardian, warning people off the forbidden pavement. "It's happened very quite often," he said. " ... Sometimes I argue with the girl issuing tickets." Part of the reason for the frequent citations at 378 is that Fayetteville Street is the busiest stretch of curbside parking in downtown, according to Gordon Dash, Raleigh's parking administrator. Fayetteville Street will always see more activity, and thus more fines, than other parking areas. Still, spot 378 is especially magnetic for rule-breaking drivers. In fact, it produced seven times as many fines in a recent year as other spaces on the same block of Fayetteville Street. In other words, people ignore the electric-only sign on Fayetteville far more often than they forget to feed the meter. St-Germain, who narrowly avoided one of the electric-only tickets himself, thinks the spot's warning sign isn't obvious enough. "You're not going to lift your head all the way up there," he said. "It's not visible at all." Dash said that the city tried to fix that this year by bringing the posting closer to the road. "There is a fine balance between just enough, to be informative, and too much, to the point that it's cluttered," he said. Temptation might be a problem too. The electric spot on Fayetteville is free more often because of its special rules, making it an obvious if unlawful choice for people hustling to the courthouses. "They're scrambling to find on-street spaces, because they think they're going to be there a short time," Dash said. Or maybe drivers are simply still adjusting. The city launched the electric-vehicle charging program in 2009, in partnership with Duke Energy and Project Get Ready. It has only fined people for blocking the spots since 2012, when City Council member Bonner Gaylord --- who drives an electric Nissan Leaf --- complained that combustion engines were blocking the special spots. Now, he says, it might be time for another look at the program's aesthetics. "You can paint the whole spot a color, and hope that people recognize when they park," he said. That's how electric spots are marked at North Hills, the retail-office-residential center Gaylord manages. And in the future, he said, the city might consider stationing spots on calmer roads. Originally, Raleigh wanted the chargers to be in highly visible locations. Now it seems that electric drivers are finding even the sites on calmer roads. The charger on East Cabarrus Street, for example, dispenses hundreds of charges with only a handful of citations each year, Dash said. "If they see a space, or a couple of vacant meters, they'll get the word out," he said. Gaylord said he would ask city staff to consider better markings for its electric-only spots. [© thestate.com] http://insideevs.com/one-charging-spot-generated-27000-fines-ice-drivers/ EV Cash Cow: One Charging Spot Generates $27,000 In Fines [20141222] by Jay Cole [image http://insideevs.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/9313_2015_Soul_EV.jpg In Raliegh, You Take Your Chances Parking In An EV Spot With Your Gasser! ] So you are worried about electric cars not paying their fair share of tax revenue via the pump? Doesn’t seem to be an issue for Raleigh, North Carolina, who come well equipped with an able meter-maid contingent. Despite only around 3,000 pure electric vehicles in the state (which are also now required to pay a $100 annual registration fee), some North Carolina cities are finding out what a cash boon EVs can be. In Raleigh, one space alone (#378 on Fayetteville street to be specific) has netted $27,000 in fines thanks to being “ICEd” over the past 12 month; North Carolina EV parking fines account for as much revenue as the entire state has brought in for registration fees. Why so much? It’s a premium downtown spot and if you happen to park your non plug-in car in it, you get a $50 fine, considerably more than the $20 fee for an expired meter. For the year about 540 tickets have been given out according to the NewsObserver, that is around 1.5 every day and 7 times as many tickets as other curbside spots on the block. The reason for the high ticket frequency? Mostly due to the ease of which the infraction can be spotted by authorities – last we checked a Ford F150 didn’t plug in. 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