Last month, Boston, now Manchester, NH.
According to the Union Leader, new parking [kiosk] meters in Manchester N.H. are accepting Visa® and MasterCard® electronic payments for as little as a nickel's worth of leased space for your car - six minutes at the meter. From what we gleaned, the city might have wanted to imposed a one-dollar minimum for electronic payments. However, it seems that the recent parking meter fiasco in Boston - where they also abandoned plans for enforcing that minimum charge card limit has now been imposed.
What happens when a motorist enters their Visa card so they can run into the corner shop for just a minute? The Union Leader reported that "[the] transaction processing fees have been reported to be as high as 18 cents on the dollar." How can the city recoup its nearly million-dollar investment after the fees to Visa and MasterCard are paid?
"[Boston] Halts Use of Credit Cards at New Meters" (via The Boston Globe)
Boston Strangled by Interchange Rules (WayTooHigh.com)
[Source: WayTooHigh.com via Union Leader, Dec 4]
