I don’t mind paying for parking at hospitals. But what upsets me is the obsolete system I’m forced to use to pay for it.
Here in the 21st century, many paid parking lots offer pay by phone where for an extra 25 cents I can pay for my parking from my phone, and when my time is about to expire, I get a text reminding me to top up. In those lots, I’m always paid up and I never overpay.
But to park at our hospitals I have to use cash or a credit card, and – worst of all – I must guess in advance how long I will be there. That’s impossible to know in advance when doctors often run late and patients may be kept several hours for observation.
Guessing how much parking to buy is a gamble and I’ve felt stress both from knowing that my parking ran out just as a doctor finally appeared and from overpaying (by as much as $10) when paying in advance for an unknown wait. Hospitals (and some doctors’ offices) need to change their present parking payment systems and make pay by phone available.
Alan T. Chattaway
Surrey