Credit card use at new meters canceled

City halts use of credit cards at new meters - The Boston Globe:

"Boston's new multispace parking meters along Newbury Street stopped accepting credit and debit cards yesterday, as city officials acknowledged that their minimum payment requirement appeared to violate Visa and MasterCard regulations.

Tinlin said city officials were not aware of the rule until the Globe reported on it yesterday. 'It has never come up,' he said.

Amazing.

Tinlin said he didn't know whether the city could afford to alter the meters to allow people to pay with credit or debit cards for whatever amount of time they want.

'It's good government that you want to cover your costs,' he said. 'With every transaction, there's a transaction fee.'

Tinlin said he didn't know the size of the city's credit card transaction fee."

Even more amazing.