Pay for Reserved Parking. Good Idea or Bad?

Never noticed a shortage of parking in Wyoming or Montana. Remember, supply and demand. Seffner, FL and Eaton, OH is high demand, little supply of parking.

 

I also remember when a cup of coffee was 50 cents at Little America, WY, while everywhere else was a quarter, at most. I never have noticed a shortage of trucks parked at Little America.

Ever try finding parking at either of the TAs in Ontario, CA after 6 or 7 in the evening? Those are both pay to park, so is the Petro at Bordentown.

 

If I were OTR, on the east coast or another high volume trucking route with limited parking I would be on the phone in a heartbeat reserving my spot. It's definitely worth it to not have the stress of "where I am I going to park", especially if you're on E-Logs and can't fudge it.

 

I'm not being fooled at all. I strongly believe in our free enterprise system. They do not have a monopoly on parking, so we still have a choice.

 

What amazes me, is how poorly the capacity of truckstops are used. Here is an example, I needed to scale and fuel my reefer, so I pull up to the flying j on exit 106 on I95 in Kenly, NC.

Now this was about 11pm, not only did I wait to get fuel as there was a long line, I had to back thru the scale as idiots had created parking spaces where there were none right in front of the scale. After scaling, I think let me get something to eat.

So I pull out of there and turn left, there is a wilco Hess, and a Petro. So I pull into the Kenly 95 petro (owned by Iowa 80 people) and not only is there parking, there are HUNDREDS of spaces open plenty of easy pull thrus too. There are also open spaces at the Hess. On my way out, I have to keep all the way to the side of the ramp because so many trucks are parked on the side of the ramp.

I mean I know people may be limited on where they can fuel, but you don't have to sleep where you fuel, I see lots of capacity just go to waste on I95 yet every loves, pilot, and flying J gets way over capacity at night, while plenty of other parking is right there.

 

I believe you may be missing the point. I've been to both those T/A's in Ontario,CA. You actually believe that because they get full it benefits Us in some way. You must know that there isn't much of a choice for parking in that area. I mean, there are plenty of places that tow your vehicle around there. You should also know there are several businesses in that area that DO NOT have parking. A lot of drivers are on E-Logs so they don't have nearly as many choices as you may think they do. I'll speak for myself. I've had to park at one of those T/A's because it was do that or get towed. That's not a Monopoly but given those choices it just as well be. I also believe in free enterprise but that doesn't mean I have to support everything that comes from it. Them charging money for us to park DOES NOT make our business profit. I can sell you a lot of stuff if you believe it does. I seriously don't know how you can support this idea even if I obviously understand how they can profit from it. I'll just agree to disagree with you on the whole idea. Thanks for your input on it.

 

I used to be a firm believer in capitalism but fear it and plutocracy will soon become synonymous. I don't know about you but I don't own shares in the oil industry, nor expect a Xmas card from Jimmy Halsam. IMHO, corporate greed does and will continue to contribute to the decline of this once great nation. . But to get back on point, I think it's a big steaming pile of b.s. that I can spend 1k on fuel, another $20 on dinner, and then they wanna squeeze me for my pocket change to park. Next they'll want us to pay to pee, but that's ok cuz it's just another fine example of capitalism.

 

As many of you know, truck stops in the Seattle Metro, are few and far between. Loves in Tacoma, which is the biggest joke on the west coast, and the TA , east of Seattle in North Bend.
If your not in Northbend as early 4pm, forget about parking.
But they do have 10 spaces for reserved parking. I was there about two weeks ago, and only 2 trucks were parked in there.
Will i use it if i need to yes i will . Will i pay for it , yes i will.

 

I think it's a great idea! It keeps the weak minded drivers out there driving to the end of their 11's every night instead of wising up on split breaking thereby leaving plenty of spaces for me at 1700 to pull in and park for my 8 and bounce.

I already have no problems paying for parking at TA in Ontario, Dallas, Memphis, Greater Chicago, etc. just buy a gallon of oil and coffee and a burger show the receipts to the guard, you were gonna buy those things anyway, and scan the oil receipt if you're a company driver and get your money back.