How performance parking worked for me

Even though I rarely use it, I do own a car. I bought it back when I was living in a car-dependent area outside of Laurel. After moving to transit-rich Wheaton, I kept it because it sometimes does come in handy. This past Saturday, January 3, 2009 was one such instance. A close friend of mine from graduate school, who now lives in Bermuda, was in town and wanted to catch up a little. There was just one problem: he was staying with his former roommate who now lives in Clinton in southern Prince George’s County. The land uses in southern Prince George’s County outside the beltway are predominantly very low-density and very auto-dependent. He also had no car so he couldn’t pick me up from the Branch Avenue Metro station. I had no choice but to drive in order to pick him up.

We decided to have lunch in the Barracks Row area of Capitol Hill. Since we were in my car, I had to find a place to park. As I rarely use my car to go into DC, I couldn’t recall off the top of my head where the city had instituted performance parking. I was just looking for a place to legally park my car so we could eat lunch. I found a space on D Street SE between 7th and 8th Streets. I parked my car, went to the shared meter, paid my fare, and put the ticket on my dashboard.

As I turned to walk away from my car, I noticed that a decent-sized piece of my car was sticking out past the sign that delineates a legal parking space from an illegal place. I noticed a DC DPW employee on the other curb. I asked her, “Do you think a parking enforcement person would give me a ticket the way I parked my car?”

She replied, “They could and [if I were you] I wouldn’t give them any reason to give you a ticket.” I was slightly disappointed because I thought that I had wasted my money on a parking meter for a block where I won’t be able to park. In my previous experience, street parking turnover generally has been very slow. I expected that I would get a ticket long before another spot on the block would open up. However, to my surprise, the DPW employee then continued, “You can move your car to another spot. The spaces here [on this block] turn over fast.”

I looked up and immediately saw another car pull out. Unfortunately, by the time I got into my car and turned the ignition, another driver had taken the spot. I just waited, thinking about whether I should cut my losses and try another block. After about two minutes, another car pulled out. I pulled out into the street. That spot was also taken by a driver in front of me. However, a third spot opened up only seconds later. I took it. I was able to use the parking slip I had already paid for.

As I walked down the block towards 8th St. SE, I noticed more cars pulling out and new drivers immediately taking the spot. Turnover remained high. After eating lunch, I noticed the same thing. In fact, the car behind mine pulled out right before I got to my car. This was on a busy, sunny Saturday afternoon on a block with no more than 15 street spaces. There couldn’t be a more dramatic contrast between the ease of finding parking on that day on a performance-metered block, and on a Sunday with completely free parking.