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11 parking meters
found to be faulty

Question: Can someone check the parking meters on both sides of Victoria Street, by Thomas Square and the Academy of Arts? You put in a quarter for a half-hour of parking, you don't get a half-hour. I've parked at several different meters there, and they're not accurate.

Answer: It's been more than a month since you called in your complaint to "Kokua Line," but the Honolulu Police Department's parking enforcement office did check on the meters shortly after we called it to its attention.

The first thing it did was to "make sure any citation that was given (because of a defective meter) was canceled," said Capt. Jose Gaytan, of the Traffic Division.

Of the 39 meters in the area, inspectors found eight were shortchanging people by six minutes, and two were shortchanging them by two minutes or less, he said.

Another one was not shortchanging anyone, but was set for the wrong duration. All the meters in that area are supposed to allow parking for up to two hours, but for some reason, Gaytan said, that one meter allowed only a maximum one hour of parking.

All 39 meters are mechanical meters. Mechanics were assigned to make the necessary adjustments or replace worn parts.

Gaytan says that the parking enforcement officers will be able to spot the obvious defects but also rely on the public to let them know about any defects or problems.

Q: We parked at Honolulu Airport around 6:30 p.m. Nov. 25 and got to the exit two minutes before the end of the 30-minute free parking time. However, the driver in the car ahead could not find the parking ticket. We waited patiently for about 10 minutes. When it was our turn, we explained that we were in line before the 30-minute cutoff. But the two female attendants said we had to pay $1. It wasn't the cost involved -- we just felt it was so unfair that we had to pay because of someone else's problem. A business entity should treat customers fairly. The two attendants kept shouting, "From Dec. 1 it (parking) will not be free," but it was not December yet! On top of that, why couldn't one of them open another booth to help others get out of the lot?

A: The state Airports Division forwarded your complaint to AMPCO System Parking for a response on what happened and also "to look at ways to keep the lines moving when necessary," said Scott Ishikawa, spokesman for the state Department of Transportation.

But officials were "a little perplexed" about the attendants claiming the free parking would end in December.

"At this time there are no plans to do away with the 30-minute free parking at our state commercial airports," Ishikawa said.

The free-parking demonstration project was implemented last year to give passengers more time for extended goodbyes. Tighter security measures put in place after Sept. 11, 2001, restricted drivers from lingering too long at curbside.

'Kokua Line' on vacation

Happy holidays to all our readers. "Kokua Line" will resume on Jan. 5.

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