"put in for convenience"? Maybe for the convenience of the city... more like for their pocketbooks. A $.25 minimum is just the start. Remember how you used to be able to pull into a space, and if it still had time on the meter you could use that? I'm sure the fact that now the city can double (and even triple) sell parking spots did not escape them. They can also hire less parking enforcement, and quicker on giving those lucrative parking tickets - a single parking enforcement drone can monitor an entire lot from the comfort of their car, waiting for their computer to tell them a spot's time has expired before they pounce. I also wonder how many people have been hit with a ticket after they park but before they can get to a pay station, stand in line behind three confused people, and pay. Now that Hyattsville has a decent restaurant district (Franklins, Busboys and Poets, Elevation burger, Chipotle, and more on the way) my family and friends vastly prefer to drive down there, where parking is free! Even at PG plaza, where they have adopted centralized pay parking, if you find that the spot you're in has time left you can use that, plus there are usually two pay stations together to speed up the process. You fail, city of College Park - many are choosing to take their business elsewhere rather than pay your parking tax.

I recently commented on this on a recent trip to a college park restraunt. Regardless of there being an actual parking lot there is a meter?? It is not a very business-friendly practice. I too would rather drive farther to hyattsville or silver spring to avoid dealing with meters or paying at the parking garage. I live in north college park and only go downtown CP once every few months at most. It is not because there aren't places to go - it is the parking.

I heard complaints from both business owners and potential shoppers that people are getting tickets while waiting in sometimes long lines to pay for their parking. I've found myself less likely to drive to the shopping center because of the new parking setup, and typically only walk there when I'm already at my office downtown. I think adding more pay stations might be a good start, because right now patrons are really bunching up at the few that are there during busy times. Also I like how DC allows you to use a mobile app to pay for parking, so if you don't want to wait in line to pay for your space, you can just do it from your phone. Plus I think the machines they use there, and in Annapolis, and a few other places that have similar parking setups, are much easier to use.

This is a story I'd like to follow up on. If anyone would like to share your College Park parking experience -- whether it be good or bad -- please reach out to me at Shannon.Hoffman@Patch.com or 202-255-2263.

at least the college park meters aren't operational 24/7, like the ones at university town center. parking in CP is a pleasure compared to the counter-intuitive and unfriendly parking restrictions at UTC.

Pay parking in some area's is a necessary evil & we have just become so use to the old style meters. Given the fact they been around for over 30 years but time & new tech. changes things. For myself I love the new single pay station because I hardly ever have cash, let alone coins with me. The problem that I have is the EXTREMELY length of time you have to keep paying. They should cut off paying the meter at 6 or 7pm at the latest. This is the main reason why I do not shop or eat in downtown CP.

I throw those little paper squares right in the parking lot when I leave. Maybe if everyone did the same thing (hey, it's paper, not toxic waste or something) and the city became sick of having to pay someone to clean up 1,000 little squares of paper from the lot every day, the city would rethink this "convnenience" (a.k.a. painfully obvious cash-grab.)

I hate them & never use them. Admittedly I hate lugging quarters around but these machines are time-consuming & annoying, so I either park at the old meters on Hartwick or else shop elsewhere. I mostly went there for CVS, but when there I might grab a Starbucks or wander over to Rugged to shop. But if I go to Rite-Aid up at E/W Hwy/Rt. 1 intersection instead, I don't have to clock myself while I'm shopping.

I was at CVS on Monday and as I started to "feed" the meter, a woman came up to me and reminded me it was a holiday and parking was free. She further said she was from Calvert Hills and now only came to the shopping center on Sundays and holidays as did most of her neighbors. She now goes to the CVS on Greenbelt Road or the Rite Aid in Riverdale and NEVER goes to any of the other shops in the College Park Shopping Center anymore. I haven't talked to anyone who likes them.

I don't shop there since the new meters were put in. Convenience is everything. The meters are an insult to the shoppers. If college park needs money so bad they should be taxing all of the new private student housing. or better yet, taxing Jager shots at cornerstone.

I don't shop in College Park any more either. I live in University Park and would shop there often. I kept a stash of quarters in my car and feeding the meters was no problem. Now, I go to the Starbucks and the CVS in Hyattsville where I don't have to pay at all. The new parking stations are a ridiculous inconvenience for shoppers. And it should be illegal for them to be able to get double and triple payment for the same time period in the same space. It's ridiculous and I just won't shop there anymore.