COLUMBIA, S.C. — Starting July 1, the City of Columbia is helping drivers erase late fees for parking tickets over the last three years. It's something drivers like Sam Lista say they’re happy about.
"There’s been so many parking tickets that I’ve had that I didn’t know about," Lista said. "And then when I go in to pay them, they’re exponentially more than the actual parking ticket and it blindsides me, and I’m like ‘Great, gotta shell out another 75, 80 bucks'."
City parking services don’t know how much money the amnesty program will cost them.
“It really depends on how many people will come in, but that is one of the things that we will be looking at," said Tori Salvant, the Deputy Director of Parking Services. "And we will be tallying that everyday, when people come in at the end of the day. We wanna make sure we understand what type of revenue that we would be losing."
Salvant says the program is to help citizens prepare for what’s coming.
"That’s why we put this program in place first, to allow them get rid of all those late fees, to pay your original citation amount," Salvant said. "That way they’ll have a clean slate when the Barnacle rolls out."
Columbia will begin using Barnacle Parking devices as soon as August, according to Salvant. Parking services will place them onto car windshields if the owner has multiple unpaid parking tickets. The owner will then need to scan a QR code on the device and pay online to remove it.
"Towing can be cumbersome, especially when you have high-traffic areas like Main Street, Five Points area," Salvant said. "You call for a tow truck to come and they're blocking traffic trying to get that vehicle out, and it cause a lot of disruption. It’s not like towing will go away completely- it will not.”
She said towing is not going away in the city, but the Barnacles will help lower the number of cars needing a tow.
Lista is familiar with the devices from living in Charleston, where they are already being used.
"People gotta drive at the end of the day," Lista said. "And I feel like if you take away their privilege to drive with the Barnacle, they’re not even gonna be able to go to work to get the money to pay the ticket, so I feel like it’s counter intuitive and I just don’t think it’s right.”
He says he’s worried about people trying to drive with the device and potentially causing accidents, but the company says it's a safe, sustainable, and convenient solution for parking compliance.