We are all familiar with parking meters. Why do you think they exist? Probably everyone who’s asked this question would immediately say these devices are only meant to earn money for local governments.
But everyone who says this would be wrong.
In fact, parking meters were invented for a different reason, which was simply to make people move their cars.
Before the 1930s, in crowded urban areas, it was common for workers to find convenient places to park close to where they worked, and then to not move their cars for their entire work day. If regulations imposed time limits, policemen would usually mark a tire of a parked vehicle with chalk to check if it stayed in the same place. All the owner had to do was to move the car slightly within the required hour or two, and then the law was not being broken. The result was that other people driving downtown to shop or for appointments couldn’t find parking, and businesses would suffer.
Forcing people to put coins into meters changed this habit. When the time ran out, you could get a parking ticket, and that has always been enough of a threat that most motorists won’t risk it. If necessary, they’ll park elsewhere, or they’ll move their cars. The result is turnover of parked vehicles, freeing spaces for others. Success!
This realization was the work of a man named Carl Magee. He invented the parking meter, and the first examples of his invention went into use in Oklahoma City on July 16, 1935. They worked, and other cities pretty quickly began to install them too.
Remarkably, some forward-thinkers in Honolulu began advocating for parking meters very early. In fact, this began in May 1936, less than a year after the first ones appeared on streets in Oklahoma. Meters came very close to being placed in downtown Honolulu for a trial period in 1937, but this effort failed.
In January 1938, a local newspaper survey of O‘ahu residents showed an intriguing breakdown: 9% were in favor of parking meters, 23% opposed them, and 68% didn’t yet know what they were.
Regardless of citizen ignorance, this debate was pretty much constant for years, through 1941 … but the arrival of World War II and the necessity of manufacturing huge amounts of material for military use (which excluded parking meters) shut down the discussion till late 1945, after the war had ended. And then the arguments went right back to where they’d already been.
In September 1947 the City & County of Honolulu passed Ordinance #1085 which laid out the entire process of how parking meters were to be chosen and where they were to be placed. In spite of this legal order, again, nothing happened.
Finally, in the summer of 1950, the Hawai‘i Aeronautical Commission, which oversaw Honolulu International Airport, took charge. The most convenient parking spaces at this facility were, not surprisingly, filled with employee vehicles every day. New rules were created to prohibit this and to create zones for workers’ cars, and parking meters were mandated to be installed. This didn’t happen till August 14, 1951, when 101 of them were placed closest to the air terminal. Once this barrier was broken, the resistance to meters in Hawai‘i was overcome at last.
Downtown Honolulu’s new parking meters had to be fed for the first time on February 1, 1952. And, just as predicted, they worked - motorists were able to find more empty spaces, which quickly made the majority of drivers into parking meter supporters. Of course the meters provided the City & County of Honolulu a new source of revenue as well. The charges were simple: 1c provided 12 minutes, and 5c bought an entire hour, with a maximum of two hours in total. Only two kinds of coins were accepted by the machines: pennies and nickels. Dimes, if inserted, provided nothing and were a total loss for anyone who used one. People soon learned that they were going to need to carry change to be able to park in the busier parts of downtown Honolulu, since an expired meter would bring a ticket that cost $1 (that's $12.45 in today's dollars).
The following year, meters came to streets in Waikīkī and Kaimukī. Business owners in the former location actively denounced the devices, claiming that they would be unsightly and not in keeping with their desire to make the tourist district less urban in appearance, and presumably more like a tourist’s fantasy ideal. Regardless, on July 13, 1953, the 377 meters along Kalākaua Avenue and some of its intersecting side streets were open for business. The next day, 123 meters mostly on Wai‘alae Avenue in Kaimukī were required to be fed.
Inspired by Honolulu, Hilo too was soon equipped with parking meters which went into operation on September 15, 1952. And just as in Honolulu, discussions soon began to plan where more were to be placed.
Moving to the present — contrary to what might be assumed, parking meters have not simply continued to increase everywhere over time. As shopping areas in particular have evolved in different Hawai‘i locations, meters have sometimes been deactivated or removed in hopes of luring people back. But don’t get your hopes up! They are definitely here to stay, today being primarily activated by credit cards instead of quarters. However it’s done, you will continue to part with money to be able to leave your car someplace.
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