“Dear PoPville,
I wanted to write to you to see if anyone else has experienced the new parking scheme at Sam’s Park n’ Ride in Cleveland Park. I went to pull into the lot the other day, and it said “just pull through” with no ticket to pull. I did so, and it looks like I had signed up for Metropolitan parking in the past, so it didn’t prompt me to sign up like the signs say to do. I drove out per the “just drive out” sign, and was hit with a parking charge of $26 for less than 15 minutes of parking.
I pulled back around to see if my eyes had deceived me, and it was true I hadn’t noticed the signage with pricing on it. It said 0-1 hour was $26. I can park for an entire day downtown for $17, so it just seems odd, and I am stunned by how high that is. I also know there is other street parking around there, but I pulled in there not knowing the scheme had changed and was admittedly being lazy. Even if I would have tried turning around in the lot and exited, I think I still would have been hit with that charge.
I use a car because I live in a part of DC where metro doesn’t go and with the recent bus changes, I use my car much more often due to elimination and extension of my route that takes 3x as long, so hopefully people don’t attack me in the comments for not using public transit! And yes, I participated in public comment when that was open so I tried to do my part!”