Marin County Parking Authority

If I could give 0 stars I would, this organization is here to steal your money legally. I parked my vehicle near College of Marin on my first day of class, I unfortunately hadn’t purchased the parking permit, I should’ve just paid $ 4 to park in the lot. Anyways I parked on the street next to the apartments and looked around for any signs prohibiting me, well the overgrown trees and bushes were hiding a sign which I was then ticketed for $ 45.00 plus $ 3.50 for paying online. Not only did I appeal the citation and provided a picture as proof of the over grown trees that were covering the sign but I tried calling. Customer service, why don’t you call it victim service and state «we will not take your call, don’t try your appeal will be denied.» They have quotas to meet and don’t care about students and the ridiculous fees we pay to the government already.#rats

Used the Parkmobile app and as best I can tell it serves as an electronic notification for the meter reader to come ahead of time and stand by your car to issue a ticket. I walked up to my car literally less than 1 minute after my 90 minutes expired and the ticket was already on my windshield with no officer in sight. Hey San Rafael Downtown Business Association — guess where I won’t be shopping or dining in the future? You need to get your county government under control — this was an absurd charge for being less than 1 minute over the line.

Marin Parking Authority is responsible for parking at College of Marin. Unfortunately, they hold parkers hostage to their ticket-​writing quotas! I had a valid parking permit for the fall semester, and parked legally in the COM lot every day. Twice, I received parking violations for parking without a permit in the student area. Appeal attempts were futile as the Marin Parking Authority website did not allow me to upload the photo showing the parking permit clearly visible in my windshield. When I sent a written appeal with supporting photo in the mail, they claimed not to have received it. And tripled the amount due during the appeals process!
There is no local address to go to in person, and the whole process is incredibly frustrating. Very disappointing!

I agree its a shakedown. I quit shopping in San Rafael due to the meters. I used to love to shop, eat, and drink in San Rafael but never anymore. All the money from the meters and fines is not enough to support the cost of the depart. There must be a better way and the local government should figure that out.

I had an interview today and I was worried that the time on my meter may expire. So I went into the office and told them I had an interview. She took my name and parking spot number and told me not to worry, but to concentrate on my interview. What a nice lady!

This a total shake down. Paid my ticket via mail on time only to be contacted 7 months later saying my credit card did not process. They refuse to send me a copy of my form so I can prove I filled it out correctly. Now I have to pay an additional $ 118. Spoke with a supervisor who said there is nothing anyone can do about the additional fee and if I don’t pay in full in 15 days they’ll put a tax lien on me. Government sanctioned crooks.

I received a $ 28 parking ticket in late June for an expired Mill Valley meter. I paid the bill in July using my credit card information. In August I received a bill for $ 106 for nonpayment. Called the Marin Parking Authority (to their credit, they did answer fairly prompty) but I was told very curtly that my card had been declined so I would have to pay the big fat late fee. I was told that there was no gray area, no opportunity for appeal, (This is very strange because I have NEVER had any issues with this credit card). No opportunity had been made to reach me (though my phone number was on the payment form — why bother asking for it if they aren’t going to use it?) After reading the other scathing reviews, I am in complete agreement that there could be some unsavory practices going on here… what is to keep the authority from pulling this same trick any time somebody tried to make a payment with a credit card? Very suspicious and incredibly frustrating.

I unfortunately had an important meeting in dwtn San Rafael. This is the second time I am using the new parking meters. I swipe my credit card and it says 5.45 Hours $ 9.00 Charged. I tried hitting the minus sign to lower the hours and dollar amount that did nothing so I hit cancel and tried again… same old song and dance. So I look on the meter for instructions and none. I look up ongoogle and youtube quickly thinking someone especially the paking authority must have put up a video or something… no none. I scraped the bottom of my purse and put in an hour and went to the interview. Came out just over hour was releved to see no ticket at drivers side window. Driving over Wolfe Grade to the land where a car can be a car I see a $ 35.00 SR Ticket on the passengerside of the windscreen. Goober couldnt even put it in the right place… I can think of a place I’d like to put it! Did I say that¿¿ Ticket by: Officer 8094 (a good little parking n@z¡)

Incompetent and borderline malicious. I have now gotten 2 tickets for supposedly parking in a ‘No parking anytime’ zone. I have appealed both tickets because my vehicle has clearly been outside the two signs that indicate there being no parking anytime. Furthermore, the tickets state ‘pictures taken.’ Wonderful. You’ve provided evidence to support your inability to perform your job.
Officer number 8094 has been the one to enforce both these tickets unjustly.
FYI: just because residents don’t like that I park where I do, doesn’t mean me doing so is illegal. It is a public street. First come, first serve. Jerks.

I was scammed by parking ticket fines. I received a $ 35 ticket (my bad) on 2/​7, two days before I left for a 4 week vacation. As soon as I got back, I paid the ticket by a check dated ³⁄₁₄ (within the no-​fine period, I have the cancelled check) but the Citation Processing Company claims they didn’t receive it until AFTER the date first fine date. They cashed the check but didn’t credit my account as paid. At that point they assessed a $ 35 late fee. Instead of notifying me of this, they waited another week, until the first week of April, then mailed me a notice saying I had made a «partial payment» and owed more. They didn’t say how much. Meanwhile, they assessed another fine of $ 40 on ⁴⁄₇ and $ 10 on ⁴⁄₁₁ (another fine 3 days after the last one?). These three late fines – on a $ 35 ticket I paid on time – totaled $ 85. That makes it a $ 118 fine for parking, even though I paid the ticket within the grace period and they acknowledged the payment (but not the date paid). Three fines totaling $ 85 assessed within about 36 days? And I had no way of knowing the fines were accruing because I had paid the ticket on time and my cancelled check had come back. Shameful.

How is it possible that the parking authority earn anything but ire from it’s fair citizens? I got a parking ticket in the Walgreens parking lot that these goons love trolling and the worst part was that it was at about 7:30pm. Ok, this is just about ridiculous. What other municipality has their drones shaking down honest tax-​paying citizens while they try to enjoy their dinner? In fact, they continue to do this all week from 8am to 8pm, AND on Saturdays to boot. You’ve got to be kidding me… It would seem that the city has become truly morally bankrupt at this point, while standing behind the rallying cry that they simply trying to turn over the parked cars to make room for others. Like this one-​star rating represents, «Eek! Methinks not.»
Please, take my humble $ 30 and buy some dignity. Thanks for nothing.

This review covers my experience with parking in Downtown San Rafael, which may or may not be administered by the Marin County Parking Authority.
I had several hours on my hands in Downtown San Rafael and either wanted to park free or prepay for a spot. I first looked at the business park lot around 2^nd Street, drove past the «Private Property» signs, but chickened out after parking and watching a family looking for a car that they were sure that they parked here. If I were a resident or a more frequent visitor, I would know what I could get away with or not. And since I was in uncharted territory, I moved on.
My answer was the top deck of the municipal structure that offered a very reasonable 75 cents/​hour and the ability to buy a ticket to put in the dash. I also saw the little parking vehicle circling around, so I knew that there was Saturday enforcement. Other than that, it’s all meters and the knowledge that San Rafael needs to catch up technologically with other cities in the Bay Area.
Final Note: There’s a small and touching memorial to a person who died on Flight 93 during ⁹⁄₁₁ on the way to the parking structure.

I recieved a long note from Meter Maid Debbie Yates informing me that I had a screw in my tire. It must have taken her 2 minutes or so to write a lovely note to help me head off a potential problem. I will never look at a Meter Maid the same way again. A wonderful person.

This company is the WORST I’ve ever had to deal with. I got a ticket in a private parking lot (ok​.it was handicapped-​my error) I tried to fight the 275.00 ticket to no avail. So I sent in a check which after one month didn’t come to my bank. I was nervous and called the marin p. Authority and asked them if they had the check. They said no. They told me to send another. I cancelled the first check and sent them a replacement. They sent me back the second check saying that the ticket had been paid. I said it hadn’t. I went to Europe and when I came back they had sent me a letter charging me an addition 23.00 for late payment. Now today I’m trying to pay. and now I have to pay an additional 14.00 to pay by credit card. I’ve called and tried to talk to someone about this. There’s no supervisor, there’s no office, only people demanding money and more money. I’m soooooo pissed off. So beware all you wonderful people out there. If you get a ticket from this company… better to go directly to DMV and pay and not deal with the Marin County Parking Authority if you don’t have to. Terrible experience.