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Sensors erase extra minutes on parking meters

Posted at 9:01 PM, Aug 16, 2012
and last updated 2012-08-17 18:08:33-04

NEW HAVEN, CT (CNN)--People in one of Connecticut's largest cities can forget about getting free time at parking meters.

City officials are installing magnetic sensors in meters along a two-block section of Chapel Street.  The New Haven Register reports that its part of a pilot program to see how many people are parking there and how long they stay.

The sensors they're using measure when a car leaves a spot. Then, the sensors reset the parking meter, even if there was still time left on it.

The move has many people in the city upset.  

"Finding a little bit of time on a meter is just one of those fortuitous events that makes a good day,” Carol O'Keefe, who is upset about these new meters, said.

"I don't know why they're trying to squeeze people,” said Sean Zhubrak. “That's really it.”

“They don't do that in New York. I know that much, he added.

The director of New Haven's Department of Transportation said the city plans to use the information it gets from these sensors to see if parking rates or times need to be changed.

He said it's not clear yet if the city will install the sensors anywhere else in the city.