4 ms·

Apple tries to buy out parking meters. Canada city says, "No!"

14 points by thehigherlife 19y ago

thehigherlife 19y ago
What bothers me the most is when any organization makes the claim that they won't change something specifically for the reason that they have never done it that way before.
- Alex3917 19y ago
  Undoubtedly one of the greatest blog posts of all time: http://www.blogmaverick.com/2005/09/13/because-thats-the-way-we-have-always-done-it/ http://www.blogmaverick.com/2005/09/13/because-thats-the-way...
- brlewis 19y ago
  Great to know. Now what bothers you second-most? The Apple PR team would like to know so they can work it into their next press hit. Seriously, though. This article presents one side, except for an out-of-context quote from an unnamed "bureaucrat" (emotionally laden term). Maybe the town is wrong and Apple is right, but I would want to get the full story before saying for sure.
cstejerean 19y ago
They said no because Apple didn't bribe the right folks. All they had to do is give away a couple of iPods and then the city would have agreed to their deal.
- chengmi 19y ago
  $35,000 is a lot of iPods...
jey 19y ago
> Really, if Ville-Marie were in charge of designing computers, the world would still be using quill pens. Sounds about right.
comatose_kid 19y ago
As a Canadian citizen (now living in Silicon Valley), I would not be surprised that this action was motivated by the threat of a strike from the Ville-Marie meter-maid union :)
- byosko 19y ago
  Gotta love the meter maids. And the unions. Combine them and that's quite the powerful force. chuckle So silly but sad at the same time...
anamax 19y ago
The meter revenue is only part of the story. The parking fine revenue is probably significantly greater than the fee revenue. I don't know if that is also true of the fine profit.
Tichy 19y ago
Everybody assumes automatically Apple is in the right? I wonder, if they allowed Apple to modify the public space in exchange for money, wouldn't they have to allow every other business to do something similar, too? Maybe they were more worried about that scenario.
Agathos 19y ago
I thought parking meters were there to promote turnover and thus make parking a little more accessible. Free parking won't do that, and a no parking zone certainly won't. In Cambridge, for the same reason, you'll be ticketed if they catch you feeding the meter instead of moving your car. It doesn't matter that you're putting up more money.

14 points by thehigherlife 19y ago

What bothers me the most is when any organization makes the claim that they won't change something specifically for the reason that they have never done it that way before.

Alex3917 19y ago
Undoubtedly one of the greatest blog posts of all time: http://www.blogmaverick.com/2005/09/13/because-thats-the-way-we-have-always-done-it/ http://www.blogmaverick.com/2005/09/13/because-thats-the-way...
brlewis 19y ago
Great to know. Now what bothers you second-most? The Apple PR team would like to know so they can work it into their next press hit. Seriously, though. This article presents one side, except for an out-of-context quote from an unnamed "bureaucrat" (emotionally laden term). Maybe the town is wrong and Apple is right, but I would want to get the full story before saying for sure.

cstejerean 19y ago

They said no because Apple didn't bribe the right folks. All they had to do is give away a couple of iPods and then the city would have agreed to their deal.

chengmi 19y ago
$35,000 is a lot of iPods...

jey 19y ago

> Really, if Ville-Marie were in charge of designing computers, the world would still be using quill pens. Sounds about right.

comatose_kid 19y ago

As a Canadian citizen (now living in Silicon Valley), I would not be surprised that this action was motivated by the threat of a strike from the Ville-Marie meter-maid union :)

byosko 19y ago
Gotta love the meter maids. And the unions. Combine them and that's quite the powerful force. chuckle So silly but sad at the same time...

anamax 19y ago

The meter revenue is only part of the story. The parking fine revenue is probably significantly greater than the fee revenue. I don't know if that is also true of the fine profit.

Tichy 19y ago

Everybody assumes automatically Apple is in the right? I wonder, if they allowed Apple to modify the public space in exchange for money, wouldn't they have to allow every other business to do something similar, too? Maybe they were more worried about that scenario.

Agathos 19y ago

I thought parking meters were there to promote turnover and thus make parking a little more accessible. Free parking won't do that, and a no parking zone certainly won't. In Cambridge, for the same reason, you'll be ticketed if they catch you feeding the meter instead of moving your car. It doesn't matter that you're putting up more money.