RTC management folks, the way you ran this "pay for parking" scheme was like a bunch of rookies.
For one, this whole excuse of charging because of commuters is "fake news," could have easily charged for those coming in early and leaving late and given a grace period for shoppers and made an allowance for employees.
For two, I went to RTC for the first time this year on Friday (and I am a local who used to go at least 2-3 times per week), wanted to pay by credit card, but the whole experience was an ordeal: small keys on terminal, delete button not working, could not bypass the "do not send receipt by email" button (went into an endless do loop) and this is despite having two of your helpers in the garage. On top of that, only one machine? So long line waiting to pay, took me 15 minutes to make a credit card payment. Couldn't you simply do what other garages do, which is have a meter where you put your slot number or conversely, a gate with pay by credit card, like at the airport.
Three: $4 or $5 to go have a lunch that may cost $5 or $6 at Subway, or even $15-$20 at a more upscale restaurant when I can go down the street for free? Really? This is not D.C. — not even Arlington or Rosslyn — plenty of other choices close by. I feel sorry for your commercial tenants.
Bert Katz
Reston