Walnut Creek officials investigate overly sensitive parking meters

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. (KGO) -- Drivers in downtown Walnut Creek are finding out the hard way that you can feed the parking meter on time and still get a ticket. But, it's not the meters that are defective. City officials believe the sensors on the new meters are the problem.

The meters provide data to an app called ParkMe, so you can look on the free app on your phone before you come down town to see where the available parking spots are.

The other reason they have those sensors on the meters is because they help the city officially monitor the parking spaces. They can determine when a parking meter is broken or if someone fed the wrong meter and left wondering why they got a ticket.

However, they are having problems. Officials have discovered that the sensors are too sensitive. For example, a big truck or nearby car going by can trigger it and it causes the meter to reset. So, people are returning to their cars and getting tickets.

Even though the city says this system is worth it, some residents are having their doubts. "I don't think it was a good idea because they have a lot of shoppers here and everybody wants to go shopping and if that sensor is not working then you're in trouble and then you end up paying a parking fine, so I think that's pretty tough," Bill Allen said.

"Parking has gotten crazy. You have to pay for the first of the garages that used to be free. So I know Walnut Creek needs to generate money, but that's not a great way to do it, so it deters people from coming downtown," Denise Denton said.

The city emphasizes this has happened to less than one percent of the people parking downtown. If you do get a ticket wrongly just go to the city and they will deal with it.

The city says they have adjusted the sensors, so the complaints have dropped off.

The system cost about half-a-million dollars.

San Francisco and Santa Monica are other cities that use these parking meter sensors.