I thought the whole idea of providing online payment options is 24/7 convenience and ease. This is not true for New Jersey Courts. I am trying to pay a parking ticket at 5:45am and it’s telling me I am outside their online hours!

Online Payment Hours
Payments can be made on this website during the following hours:

Mon – Thurs
7:30AM – 11:45PM (EST)
Fri
7:30AM – 10:45PM (EST)
Sat
7:30AM – 3:45PM (EST)
Sun
1:00PM – 11:45PM (EST)

This is insane! I can’t for the life of me figure why they would limit it! They’d do betting opening up a Paypal account! And can we talk about the fee? I was 15 minutes late getting back to my car to pump it with more quarters– 15 minutes which when you are waiting by a meter to put a ticket on a person’s car might seem like a lot of time but when you are active and doing things, 15 minutes is a tiny blip. $48.00 that little mistake cost me. Robbery, I tell you.

And to top it all off, I got another parking ticket Monday in Allentown. At least their fee is reasonable. It’s 10.00 if I pay within 10 days, 25.00 if I wait over 10 days. I can deal with 10.00 because that’s what parking lots charge for a day. That is parking lots outside of Philadelphia– the Philly parking lots take your first born child and one of your ribs.

Don’t get the impression I am flaunting the law. I try to stay within the limits! I don’t leave the meter untouched– I put in money, it’s just not always easy getting back to refill it. It’s not always easy having enough coins to fill it a second time and I have to go hunting for a store to get change.

OH, talking about other ways people have been extracting money from me— Because I was on vacation, I didn’t get a September Rail pass. So I boarded the train yesterday and because there is no ticket machine at my station, I had to buy a ticket from the conductor.
“7.00 little missy!” he said. $7.00! That Septa price hike really was steep! So I paid the 7.00 which seemed extremely high to me but I didn’t grumble. Later in my office, I checked their Web site to see he charged me a 2.00 surcharge for purchasing tickets on the train! BUT MY STATION DOESN’T HAVE A TICKET BOOTH OR MACHINE! How else would I get a ticket if not from the conductor? I can’t believe they’d charge me 2.00 for buying the ticket in the train.

This has got to end. I am tired of fees. No more fees! No more tickets!