Submitted by skiwhatwhat t3_zzz1bi in washingtondc

It seems ParksDC changed its multi-day VPP process and I got really confused by it, so posting here to a) share the change with others in case anyone else was also confused and b) vent about it because it's the internet and that's what people love to do.

Previously, I had a visitor arriving around 1:30pm on 9/4 and leaving around 8am 9/6. So, I scheduled a VPP for her from 1:30pm 9/4 to 8am on 9/6 - great! (confirmed this used to be the case by looking at the pass I printed out back then).

Now, I have a visitor arriving around 10am on 1/2 and leaving around 8am on 1/4. But when I try to schedule a VPP for her, the "multi-day" option now requires you to set up a recurring time period on multiple days.

So:

  • If I try to schedule 10am 1/2 through 8am 1/4, the website tells me I can't because the system reads that as the start time being earlier than the end time - it thinks it's 10am-8am on 1/2, 1/3, and 1/4.
  • If I try to schedule 10am 1/2 through 11am 1/4, it gives me a pass for someone to park between 10am and 11am on 1/2, 1/3, and 1/4.
  • The only way to have a multi-day pass for this person seems to be to schedule 7am-11:55pm for 1/2, 1/3, and 1/4, even though she's arriving well after 7am on 1/2 and leaving well before 11:55pm on 1/4. It also has to be marked as "daily recurring" or customized to be recurring for Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday.

In the grand scheme of things I understand that this is minor, but I found this change to be incredibly unintuitive and it could screw someone over if they thought they were scheduling e.g. 10am 1/2 through 11am 1/4 but the car ends up getting ticketed because the pass is actually for 10am-11am each day in that period.

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Comments

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DebatableAwesome t1_j2ep3mj wrote

Yes it's very confusing and unintuitive. Basically now the process for overnight parking passes requires you to individually select every day of the week someone will be parking, and put in 5am to 11:55pm (or whatever hours it is illegal to park based on the parking regulations in your neighborhood). Really don't understand why they changed this at all since the old system made much more sense.

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bubbabubba345 t1_j2eu7xr wrote

Glad I'm not the only one who was confused when trying to book overnight parking for family... I guess 11:55pm-7am are the safe hours and no one will get tickets then?

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skiwhatwhat OP t1_j2ev0fl wrote

Yeah, those times are "freebies" I guess - which they also don't make abundantly clear, making it all the more confusing!

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romanceordelusion t1_j2fhdw9 wrote

Yes, I had to look up the FAQ - they said start it for 7am-11:55pm and that covers the full day

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Opening-Structure-99 t1_j2espuf wrote

They need to hire a UI/UX designer. The app is all over the place 🤦🏻‍♂️

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spince t1_j2fferu wrote

Don't be silly, contracts in DC prioritizes rewards for loyalty first. Usability is like...10th on the list.

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