20 years ago Portland, Oregon used to chalk tires and had coin fed meters in downtown. And a fleet of go-cart driving officers for the rest of the city.
Around that time the city started moving to electronic meters in downtown that produced a printed ticket with a time that you were required to post on a street facing window. There was the usual city waste and political kickbacks iirc, at least one city employee got caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
Now the traffic enforcement officers have a handheld plate scanner, on each end of every block the parking enforcement signs have a QR-like code on the back that the officers first scan, then they go down the block scanning every car, then they scan the sign at the other end. This defines a complete audit trail of the officers movement with respect to every block and every car.
Using this technique, they not only scan for expired tickets, but can also issue citations for expired plates, previously unpaid tickets, warrants for outstanding criminals (in which they notify city police) and even summon a boot or tow truck.
I suspect that all cities that use chalk now will eventually move to some fully automated system like this. Perhaps not even ticket printing machines, just cameras looking down at all the cars, watching them (and you) come and go. Stay too long, and you get a ticket in the mail. Have a warrent on you an the police are there waiting when you return. The upshot for them? Besides the usual hands in cookie jars like in Portland, they won't have to pay all those traffic enforcement officers.
My city about 10 years ago have a car that drives with a camera scans every plate and with a GPS location. You have to move your car about 2 feet and you are fine.
They also moved away from towing to a boot. If your on a boot for 48+ hours then they tow. $50 for the boot to be removed or $275 for the tow and $85 per day in parking.
It makes me comically angry that our toll roads require RFID equipment in most cars and slow cash lanes for people without. The fallback for people running the toll booth is to automatically take a photo of the plate and send the owner a bill.
Why not just use the fallback system as the primary system?
You already have the equipment to collect tolls automatically. Why do I need to glue something to my window or wait in a long line to pay cash?
Comically angry because I know this is "old man yells at cloud" territory.
The Golden Gate Bridge did away with cash lanes a long time ago. There are signs that tell you to go to their website, where you can enter your license plate number and pay with a credit card.
Around that time the city started moving to electronic meters in downtown that produced a printed ticket with a time that you were required to post on a street facing window. There was the usual city waste and political kickbacks iirc, at least one city employee got caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
Now the traffic enforcement officers have a handheld plate scanner, on each end of every block the parking enforcement signs have a QR-like code on the back that the officers first scan, then they go down the block scanning every car, then they scan the sign at the other end. This defines a complete audit trail of the officers movement with respect to every block and every car.
Using this technique, they not only scan for expired tickets, but can also issue citations for expired plates, previously unpaid tickets, warrants for outstanding criminals (in which they notify city police) and even summon a boot or tow truck.
I suspect that all cities that use chalk now will eventually move to some fully automated system like this. Perhaps not even ticket printing machines, just cameras looking down at all the cars, watching them (and you) come and go. Stay too long, and you get a ticket in the mail. Have a warrent on you an the police are there waiting when you return. The upshot for them? Besides the usual hands in cookie jars like in Portland, they won't have to pay all those traffic enforcement officers.