Providence: Tickets cost city parkers $4.48M

Thursday
Dec 14, 2017 at 8:53 PM Dec 14, 2017 at 8:53 PM

We found that the City of Providence issued 151,679 parking tickets and raked in $4,485,861 from fees.

Jacqueline Tempera Journal Staff Writer jacktemp

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Few things are as gut-wrenching as walking back to your car to see an orange envelope poking out from under the windshield wiper.

People who drive in Providence are no strangers to the parking enforcement officers and dreaded parking tickets. Through an Access to Public Records Act request, The Providence Journal requested data for every parking ticket distributed in the city in the last fiscal year, which began July 1, 2016 and ended June 30, 2017.

We found that the City of Providence issued 151,679 parking tickets and raked in $4,485,861 from fees. 

Here’s what else The Journal found:

• Of the 30 or so types of parking violations identified by the city, the most revenue — $1.5 million or about 33 percent — came from tickets issued for parking at an expired meter. A close second: the $1.4 million earned for tickets issued for parking overtime in zones designated for two- or three-hour parking. Tickets issued for parking in prohibited areas brought in $743,401 for the city.

•Westminster Street — a 1.5 mile stretch through downtown — brought in the most parking ticket revenue: $118,234. Dorrance Street, the half-mile thoroughfare that runs by City Hall and the Biltmore Hotel out to the courthouse that's home to District, Family and Worker's Compensation courts, followed with $108,748. Blackstone Street, which is just a block from the Women & Infants and Rhode Island Hospital complexes, brought in $93,386 in ticket revenue.

•Westminster, Dorrance, and Blackstone Street were also the most ticketed streets. The city issued 3,669 tickets on Dorrance Street, 3,450 on Westminster Street and 3,283 on Blackstone Street.

•Planning a trip into the city? Keep this in mind: about 9 percent of parking tickets were issued in March 2017, the leading month, and 18 percent of tickets were issued on Thursdays, the top day of the week.

The number of parking tickets issued per year has decreased significantly over the past 10 years. In 2007, the city issued 313,885 tickets — that's slightly more than double the number in the last fiscal year. In fiscal year 2016, there were 156,573 tickets issued; in 2015 there were 161,375; and 196,126 in 2014.

  

 

 

-jtempera@providencejournal.com

(401)-277-7121

On Twitter: @jacktemp

Thursday
Dec 14, 2017 at 8:53 PM Dec 14, 2017 at 8:53 PM

We found that the City of Providence issued 151,679 parking tickets and raked in $4,485,861 from fees.

Jacqueline Tempera Journal Staff Writer jacktemp

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Few things are as gut-wrenching as walking back to your car to see an orange envelope poking out from under the windshield wiper.

People who drive in Providence are no strangers to the parking enforcement officers and dreaded parking tickets. Through an Access to Public Records Act request, The Providence Journal requested data for every parking ticket distributed in the city in the last fiscal year, which began July 1, 2016 and ended June 30, 2017.

We found that the City of Providence issued 151,679 parking tickets and raked in $4,485,861 from fees. 

Here’s what else The Journal found:

• Of the 30 or so types of parking violations identified by the city, the most revenue — $1.5 million or about 33 percent — came from tickets issued for parking at an expired meter. A close second: the $1.4 million earned for tickets issued for parking overtime in zones designated for two- or three-hour parking. Tickets issued for parking in prohibited areas brought in $743,401 for the city.

•Westminster Street — a 1.5 mile stretch through downtown — brought in the most parking ticket revenue: $118,234. Dorrance Street, the half-mile thoroughfare that runs by City Hall and the Biltmore Hotel out to the courthouse that's home to District, Family and Worker's Compensation courts, followed with $108,748. Blackstone Street, which is just a block from the Women & Infants and Rhode Island Hospital complexes, brought in $93,386 in ticket revenue.

•Westminster, Dorrance, and Blackstone Street were also the most ticketed streets. The city issued 3,669 tickets on Dorrance Street, 3,450 on Westminster Street and 3,283 on Blackstone Street.

•Planning a trip into the city? Keep this in mind: about 9 percent of parking tickets were issued in March 2017, the leading month, and 18 percent of tickets were issued on Thursdays, the top day of the week.

The number of parking tickets issued per year has decreased significantly over the past 10 years. In 2007, the city issued 313,885 tickets — that's slightly more than double the number in the last fiscal year. In fiscal year 2016, there were 156,573 tickets issued; in 2015 there were 161,375; and 196,126 in 2014.

  

 

 

-jtempera@providencejournal.com

(401)-277-7121

On Twitter: @jacktemp

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