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MBTA sues former parking-lot operator over millions in possibly lost revenue
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Comments
The Problem With Cash
Well, one of them, anyway. If you know that lot closes daily due to being full and you have nowhere near the right amount of money ...
On the other hand, the Channelside lot used to be cash only and that place was probably laundering money like nobody's business. The other problem with cash!
Privatization
Yet another example of how the private sector is far better at cheating and stealing when it comes to public funds.
Well the public MBTA pension
Well the public MBTA pension fund, management, rank & file, union leadership, etc. all seem more than capable at cheating and stealing.
I'd say let Uber or Hubway take over managing the system. But they've also been innovators at cheating and stealing in addition to regulatory evasions!
Hubway?
What scam has hubway been accused of?
The argument that the private industry is somehow more responsible is false. Everyone can be corrupted. I'd rather 100 union members have an unreasonably large pension then I would have 2-3 managers/owners make millions for themselves.
This LAZ case is about outright stealing but the company isn't willing to pay for their employee's thefts -- something they could have prevented with better oversight of their own staff.
Hubway's parent company has
Hubway's parent company has been accused of bribery or bid rigging in different cities.
Uber Corrupt
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/23/technology/travis-kalanick-pushes-ube...
Stop with trying to play sides...
Can you support your statement with specific data that clearly shows us how the entire private sector is "far better" at cheating? Otherwise, I'll take your statement as an opinion, and nothing more.
Truth be told, while most continue to play "gang warfare" between unions & the private sector, both sides are blind to the fact that they are BOTH CORRUPT. Unless one entity is completely clear of wrongdoing, both have had documented instances of modern day corruption...and yet, similarly to the Democrat vs Republican gang warfare that folks participate in daily, people are still trying to convince each other that their side "is clearly better than the other".
Wake-up sheep...this is what any pros/cons comparison is all about. What is the LESSER of two evils (i.e. the "better" choice doesn't equate to being without fault). Why this is so hard to understand, I have no clue.
find
Mike Ehrmantraut
bad idea
How would that help? Driver would hand him a bag of money when they enter and he'll throw it back in their car when they leave.
So not surprised by this news
So not surprised by this news!
I used to park at Oak Grove sometimes, and the workers seemed so sketchy.
I still use a Laz parking lot (since they seem to be ubiquitous), but at least all the payment is done electronically so no one can skim off it.
By sketchy do you mean, um, ethnic?
We all know who LAZ staffs at these places (who make much less than T employees, settle down on the privatization rants people). Can you describe the sketchiness?
Millions were stolen!
And not one arrest between the parking lot scandals and the revenue room heists there is something rotten in the land of the MBTA.
That's a tough one
It's a guy's job to open a machine and collect dollar bills, of which there will be an almost unpredictable quantity. I cannot think of a system that would make that theft proof (or even theft-resistant, really.) Given that, and given that there isn't really a way, short of issuing "paid" receipts to each car, to tell how much money should have been collected, how can you sue management? Yes, employees of Laz stole the money, but I'd have a tough time finding that management was negligent.
Modern machines count money and recognize denominations
Most modern machines that collect money tell how much money and how many $1s, $5s, $10s, $20s, etc. should be inside since the machine was last opened. Most require a unique password and give a time stamp for every opening, so it's very predictable. Cameras are everywhere and can count the cars.
That said, parking lot scams have been around since the invention of cars. Wasn't there a major scam at the Boston Common garage years ago that almost brought down powerful folks at the State House? I had friends in high school that would pocket a fortune at Fenway, turning in the bare minimum to the boss. Seems surprising in 2017, there isn't a system to count the money and the cars. If the count is off, fire the people the next day.
Riverside
At Riverside, most of the fees are collected as cash by attendants. They started with the cell phone payments in 2016, I think. The new company is there, but it appears that some of the same people from Laz are working as attendants. The MBTA has had attendants there for many years.
Ever see those rubber hoses across the highway
They count +1 every time something heavy rolls over it. Guessing there are some far more sophisticated systems. Not forgiving LAZ - but my guess is they got paid a management fee - no matter how many people parked. They had little incentive to audit and figured they wouldn't get caught (and are now trying to get off light). But the T should have had all kinds of auditing procedures in place including spot checks. Counting cars/tracking cash isn't rocket science. No system is foolproof -but if your operation is a sieve rather than a bucket that might spring a leak - well....
Color me surprised. If you
Color me surprised. If you ever parked at Alewife, this would be your first impression from the seedy attendants and cash-only attitude.
If *you* ever parked at
If *you* ever parked at Alewife in the last 5 years (which is before the LAZ contract began), you'd know that the attendants no longer handle cash. All cash and credit payments are made at the machines.