Parking Authority resumes ticketing

As the snow melts, so do hopes for another day of free parking. Today, the Pittsburgh… As the snow melts, so do hopes for another day of free parking. Today, the Pittsburgh Parking Authority will once again begin ticketing people whose parking meters run out.

On Feb. 8, just days after the storm now known as Snowpocalypse, Parking Authority officials announced that they wouldn’t ticket people until road conditions improved and parking meters had been cleared of snow.

Parking Authority workers also had to fix some of the malfunctioning meters.

Since then, Pittsburghers have been able to park at Parking Authority meters and in their lots for free. Tickets usually range from $11 to $16.

“We’ll have to get back in our routine,” David Onorato, executive director of the Parking Authority, said. “A lot of the parking has returned to normal, if not 100 percent.”

Onorato estimated that the Parking Authority lost about $200,000 in the two weeks it did not issue tickets. He said the Parking Authority didn’t ticket because it wouldn’t be fair to charge people who couldn’t get to their meters.

Parking Authority workers have spent much of the last two weeks clearing snow off company property. Yesterday, these staff members returned to their normal routine and distributed warnings to those who did not pay for parking.