WASHINGTON – The District collected more parking fines in 2011 than any other year, matching nationwide trends that show D.C. collects proportionately more from drivers compared to other, much larger cities.
D.C. parking enforcement officers took in the record $96.6 million from 1.6 million parking tickets, reports AAA Mid-Atlantic, citing figures obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.
That’s an average of $371,000 a day, the auto club’s spokesman John Townsend says, adding it’s already on a faster pace this year.
“They’re on track to make a hundred million, or maybe 120 million,” he says.
There are 30 different local and federal agencies in D.C. that can issue parking tickets in the city.
Despite the record amount collected, 30 percent of the people who got D.C. parking tickets last year never paid up.
D.C. has 17,000 metered parking spaces and took in an estimated $40 million in revenue from them. That’s almost double what Los Angeles took in with 40,000 meters.
WTOP’s Hank Silverberg contributed to this report. Follow Hank and WTOP on Twitter.
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