Parking kiosks don’t sound so good

The Dispatch has an article on the new credit card-accepting parking “kiosks”:

Unlike meters that guard each parking space individually, kiosks have one machine that handles payments for a number of spaces.

Typically, the machines take your money and print out a receipt that you display on your dashboard.

To pay for parking right now, I go to the meter right next to the car, slip in a coin or few, then I’m done. With the kiosks, I’ll have to walk to the kiosk which might be a number of parking spaces away- the article doesn’t say how many spaces each kiosk will handle- get a receipt, walk back to my car and stick the receipt on the dashboard. Now maybe I’m just lazy- okay, there’s no maybe about it- but that sounds like a pain.

Get this:

The four companies are letting the city try out their kiosks for free. The city isn’t just deciding whether to use the new technology, it also is deciding which product it would use.

Hmm.

Four kiosks in the Short North, Arena District and Downtown will be set up with the new technology within 60 days, said David Bush, interim director of the city’s Public Service Department.

They’ll be tested out for three months before officials survey the public and decide on their future.