Street Parking!

[Generic]

Imagine that you drive up to a street in a foreign country and you see the above sign... without looking it up, what do you think it means? Can you park there? Would you park there? Or would you stop someone on the street and ask? Or would you assume it's okay because there are other cars there?

 

[EmptyNest]

No parking. except vehicles with permits. 9:30 am - 9 pm Not sure about days..monday - friday?

 

[Generic]

No parking. except vehicles with permits. 9:30 am - 9 pm Not sure about days..monday - friday?.

Yup, Monday to Friday. I just checked and this isn't even a current sign. The current ones are like this....

The words "Reserve" and the big P with a red symbol should be a hint of some kind, no?
I'm just always in shock as to how many people look at me with absolute AWE when I tell them that they can't pay there, as if you can park anywhere, in any large city? You come from the big city, like Chicago, San Francisco or Toronto and you expect that you can just park with impunity? I don't get it.

 

[EmptyNest]

No parking. except vehicles with permits. 9:30 am - 9 pm Not sure about days..monday - friday?.

Yup, Monday to Friday. I just checked and this isn't even a current sign. The current ones are like this....

The words "Reserve" and the big P with a red symbol should be a hint of some kind, no?
I'm just always in shock as to how many people look at me with absolute AWE when I tell them that they can't pay there, as if you can park anywhere, in any large city? You come from the big city, like Chicago, San Francisco or Toronto and you expect that you can just park with impunity? I don't get it.
.

Strange because the SYMBOL really says it all. NO PARKING

 

[Generic]

No parking. except vehicles with permits. 9:30 am - 9 pm Not sure about days..monday - friday?.

Yup, Monday to Friday. I just checked and this isn't even a current sign. The current ones are like this....

The words "Reserve" and the big P with a red symbol should be a hint of some kind, no?
I'm just always in shock as to how many people look at me with absolute AWE when I tell them that they can't pay there, as if you can park anywhere, in any large city? You come from the big city, like Chicago, San Francisco or Toronto and you expect that you can just park with impunity? I don't get it.
.

Strange because the SYMBOL really says it all. NO PARKING
.

I got that look again last night.
The other one that I get is this strange look when I tell them that I can't reserve them street parking. Yes.... they have asked me to somehow save them a space, like that's a real possibility!

 

[EmptyNest]

No parking. except vehicles with permits. 9:30 am - 9 pm Not sure about days..monday - friday?.

Yup, Monday to Friday. I just checked and this isn't even a current sign. The current ones are like this....

The words "Reserve" and the big P with a red symbol should be a hint of some kind, no?
I'm just always in shock as to how many people look at me with absolute AWE when I tell them that they can't pay there, as if you can park anywhere, in any large city? You come from the big city, like Chicago, San Francisco or Toronto and you expect that you can just park with impunity? I don't get it.
.

Strange because the SYMBOL really says it all. NO PARKING
.

I got that look again last night.
The other one that I get is this strange look when I tell them that I can't reserve them street parking. Yes.... they have asked me to somehow save them a space, like that's a real possibility!
.

You are supposed to go out and stand there till they arrive....LOL!

 

[Breakfast Diva]

I would be able to read the sign, but I've had some French. But even if I didn't the big P with the line through it is international for no parking! The hours are clear enough, so even if people didn't know the days of the week, they should know that they better look for parking some place else. There's no excuse.
Jon, aren't you the parking monitor this week?

 

[GoodScout]

I suspect these signs are in Montreal. We visit there regularly, so we're used to them now, but yes, they can be daunting. Bottom line: Go find a parking garage, because if you don't have a neighborhood sticker you're not going to find a legal spot.

 

[gillumhouse]

They MUST be from Chicago - chairs are used to reserve a parking place. HOWEVER my daughter pays something like $1000 YEAR for a sticker that allows her to park on the street in front of her house (or wherever she is lucky enough to find a parking place on her block).

 

[Generic]

No parking. except vehicles with permits. 9:30 am - 9 pm Not sure about days..monday - friday?.

Yup, Monday to Friday. I just checked and this isn't even a current sign. The current ones are like this....

The words "Reserve" and the big P with a red symbol should be a hint of some kind, no?
I'm just always in shock as to how many people look at me with absolute AWE when I tell them that they can't pay there, as if you can park anywhere, in any large city? You come from the big city, like Chicago, San Francisco or Toronto and you expect that you can just park with impunity? I don't get it.
.

Strange because the SYMBOL really says it all. NO PARKING
.

I got that look again last night.
The other one that I get is this strange look when I tell them that I can't reserve them street parking. Yes.... they have asked me to somehow save them a space, like that's a real possibility!
.

You are supposed to go out and stand there till they arrive....LOL!
.

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gO7uemm6Yo]

 

[Generic]

I suspect these signs are in Montreal. We visit there regularly, so we're used to them now, but yes, they can be daunting. Bottom line: Go find a parking garage, because if you don't have a neighborhood sticker you're not going to find a legal spot..

I deal with this kind of nonsense all the time, like I'm supposed to magically find them a spot, keep them a spot and yes, even pay their parking tickets. (Yes, they have asked!)

 

[Arks]

I've traveled a lot in foreign countries, always check the signs carefully, and am reasonably paranoid about possibilities of having my rental car towed. If I'm not SURE what the sign says, I just don't park there, at least not until I've asked a local about it.
People who ignore signs, just because they don't understand them, deserve what they get. They think they're special, but they're not.

 

[Morticia]

You know, you could almost figure that out if you had taken ANY foreign language in school, including English (which is, for many English-speaking Americans, a foreign language). Plus, there's that big P with the line thru it. Sure, it seems to imply there ARE hours you can park there, but why take the chance?

 

[Morticia]

I've had guests complain to me, and refuse to return to this town, EVER, because they parked in a 15 minute zone for an hour and, gracious, got a ticket.

 

[user 26]

well ... May I ask ... is this outside your place? If so, as your guest, yes ... I would expect you to tell me ahead of time where to park. Do you have parking for guests? If it's a random area in the 'neighborhood,' I hope you would advise me. I wouldn't just guess about that sign but I'd be feeling lost if I didn't know what to do. truth

 

[Joey Camb]

We have a very complicated system of free, disk and pay and display which non locals are baffled by - often have people at the door asking what on earth they are meant to do (ie non guests)
The Disk parking is free for the number of hours on the sign - but you need a disk and unless you meet a friendly traffic warden or me then you have little way of getting one - I get them for free and hand them out to anyone who asks.

 

[Generic]

well ... May I ask ... is this outside your place? If so, as your guest, yes ... I would expect you to tell me ahead of time where to park. Do you have parking for guests? If it's a random area in the 'neighborhood,' I hope you would advise me. I wouldn't just guess about that sign but I'd be feeling lost if I didn't know what to do. truth.

I live in the inner city. No different than NYC, Boston, Toronto or Chicago. Would you expect free parking in Manhattan? Would you expect the hotel to somehow find you a free spot on the street? To magically hold it and reserve it for you because you are too damn cheap to pay for one?
I have 2 spots and I'm lucky enough to have them. A parking spot in this city sells for $100K... that's not a garage, that's a piece of land big enough to just put a car on. Half of my street is free parking, if you are patience and read the signs. Half of my street is reserved for the local residents.
And I offer 2 spaces for less than half of what a private lot charges. Reservable online with the room reservation. On the OTAs it clearly says "no parking" or very limited parking, email ahead of time. But honestly, it's the ones that DON'T want to pay that give me that damn look.
I have no problem explaining the signs, explaining where to go to find a spot, or where to find a paid spot. I do have a problem with people who expect me to magically have reserved them a spot on a public street. And a bigger problem with an idiot who walks up to me with their ticket and asks me to pay it.

And I have a problem with the expectation that they can park anywhere they damn well please. It's not "Is that spot legal?" They don't even ask! They assume they can park anywhere and that's that.

 

[OnTheShore]

I've had guests complain to me, and refuse to return to this town, EVER, because they parked in a 15 minute zone for an hour and, gracious, got a ticket..

There have been more than a few posts on the TripAdvisor forum for your town complaining about the ticketing for parking in front of the big store there.... saying the same thing, refusing to return to your town, ever!

 

[Iris]

I learned French in school...

 

[user 26]

That is hard. So now I know.