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If I go to Tower Point, I can buy groceries, get my nails done, get a cheap hair cut, buy a cell phone, get some fast food, get some dog food, buy some pool supplies, and maybe get some Chinese food.

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Hey don't forget dining at Golden Corral for the country club crowd...ooops, i mean Casa Do Brazil.

nought said:

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lost my dog said:

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gopitt said:

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Century Square is a absolutely booming and will get even better as more and more shops move in. Great restaurants, movie theater, great live music. Love the place. It is the new "in" place in town. Superb for all ages.

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Or you could go to downtown Bryan or Tower Point, get much the same experience, and not pay for parking.

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I started this thread and am irritated about the lack of convenience with the parking situation at Century Square, but you can't compare Tower Point to it at all.

Century Square is what Tower Point should have been.

If I go to Century Square, I can eat at a nice steakhouse, hang out in a nice hotel bar and sip some whiskey while looking at a pretty pool, have my choice of several more casual yet not fast food restaurants, walk around to various shops like the King Ranch store, enjoy some candy or ice cream for the kids, and let them play in the large outdoor area.

If I go to Tower Point, I can buy groceries, get my nails done, get a cheap hair cut, buy a cell phone, get some fast food, get some dog food, buy some pool supplies, and maybe get some Chinese food. If I want to walk around to different shops, I have to walk long distances through giant parking lots with almost no green space. The parking is indeed convenient and free, however.

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You did overlook Casa do Brazil as far as nice food on the south side. But I agree it is not the same at all as Century square.

Now once "the Yard" is done that may change.

I agree- which is why I think it is ridiculous to say Towet Point and downtown Bryan is the same thing.

Armchair quarterbacks

Not sure what you mean when referring to armchair quarterback 's. Familiar with the term but how are you applying it here? These posters have actually visited all of these places-Century Square, downtown Bryan, Tower Point. Based on that they can offer valid opinions of their experiences.

Not sure if this has been brought up yet, but I went to century square today and paid for parking without entering my license plate. It didn't even ask and just said to put the ticket on my dash. Wasn't hard at all.

With that being said, I understand why they have paid parking I'm just not the biggest fan.

I had to take a long drive last week and thought of this topic when a rerun of this came on my podcast app

http://freakonomics.com/podcast/parking-is-hell-a-new-freakonomics-radio-podcast/

You can use your phone to pay with passport parking. You have to find the Zone # which is on the parking meter on the front. On the app you can preload your plate, car, and credit card. For my one hour of parking it was $1.20 for an additional fee of $0.20. The app worked well and gave a count-down and 15 minute warning. However I still received a printed warning for not paying.

I'm sure if it was a ticket I could easily contest it with the emailed parking receipt and app history but there still seems to be a disconnect between the app and the parking enforcement force.

I did submit a bug report. On the warning there is no website or contact information to contest or discuss the warning.

Who would write you a ticket? The parking isn't being enforced by any government entity.

cslifer said:

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Who would write you a ticket? The parking isn't being enforced by any government entity.

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The printed warning was from Justin Moses one of the parking enforcers. I have no idea how they would enforce tickets in the future as they are not a government entity. I don't think the system has been tested or pushed at this point. They left a printed tag with a picture saying WARNING failure to pay and showing I had no printed receipt on my dash but not much real information aside from time/date/Citation #/Plate.

I too wonder how the meter maids are supposed to coordinate app-paid parking versus dash-displayed tickets?!

At Century Square, and the pay-to-park spots at TAMU (e.g. Lot 100), the dashboard-visible ticket is SOP but supposedly you can pay thru the app as a convenient alternative? (The app has not worked when I've tried it!)

The lot attendants look for dash tickets, from my observation. I have little confidence that your car will escape scrutiny without one.

This is the reply from my request from the app folks. It seems like it is an app that charges extra but has no liability.

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Hello,

Thank you for reaching out. I'm sorry to hear that this happened. Unfortunately, we don't issue the tickets/warnings or have the ability to dismiss citations in this help-desk. Please contact your local parking operator and they will be happy to assist you. If we can help with anything else, let us know!

Warm Regards,

Derwin
Passport
Support Case #00096414

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nwspmp said:

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techno-ag said:

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nwspmp said:

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KidDoc said:

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This is the reply from my request from the app folks. It seems like it is an app that charges extra but has no liability.

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Hello,

Thank you for reaching out. I'm sorry to hear that this happened. Unfortunately, we don't issue the tickets/warnings or have the ability to dismiss citations in this help-desk. Please contact your local parking operator and they will be happy to assist you. If we can help with anything else, let us know!

Warm Regards,

Derwin
Passport
Support Case #00096414

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So, you can pay more for parking, but if they fail to communicate that to the people on the ground, it's a whole bunch of "Sucks to be you?" from them? Am I reading that right?

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Simple economics. You tax what you want less of. They must want fewer customers so they tax (charge) for parking.

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No, no, I get the charging for parking (though it's not my thing for what seems to be available elsewhere) but the fact that a person does value the venues there enough to pay for parking, and on top of that a premium for the convenience of doing from a mobile device. Said person pays for the parking, but the parking company that takes the money doesn't communicate it to their people on the ground, so on top of paying for parking and paying extra to not deal with their machines/processes (which seem to change by the fortnight), you get the threat of having your vehicle towed/impounded and their response is "Well, sucks to be you. Talk to the people there, maybe they can work it out for you. Thanks for paying us extra for this!"

Wow.

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If somebody gets towed mistakenly I hope Rusty at KBTX sufficiently shames them for the whole pay to park fiasco.

1) you shouldnt' need your license plate to pay for the parking. Just put your slip on the dashboard.
2) One thing to keep in mind is that 50% of the $ made from parking goes to charities in B/CS - so at least there is that.
3) yes, rain is a bad thing. If you have an old receipt - put it on your dashboard (IF IT'S RAINING - you can always pay later).
4) also note, you won't get a ticket if the receipt is NOT there and you will NEVER be towed. You will get a nice note that says "next time, please pay for parking". They will keep track, but honestly, it's really only a hassle if it's raining, other than just making us walk a little more (i don't like it either).
The only time they tow is when they see someone get out of their car, put their backpack on and walk across the street. The reason you are paying for parking (and it's really not that much) is because they want to deter students from taking advantage - and you know they will as parking is a HOT commodity and the bane of existence for most students.
5) The developer for this project went over every scenario when working on this, and this - believe it or not, is best case scenario. There are discussions for improving it as well, such as pay and add time by phone. Stay tuned.

We went to Porter's for brunch after church last Sunday and went to pay at the evil parking meters and it told us parking is free on Sunday!

Just FYI.

And the Porter's Crawfish eggs benedict is incredible.

Parking should be free outside of normal university hours.

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pay to park fiasco.

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Maybe staff should give you a warning like they did someone else

Century Square is now advertising for students and staff to park in their parking garage instead of parking on campus. They've even launched a semester parking program. Wasn't the reason that they gave for needing to charge for parking to begin with to keep people going to campus from parking in their parking and taking away spots from retail and restaurant customers? And now they are advertising and asking college students and staff to park at Century Square? That's rich.

From their site:

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Looking for convenient parking in a garage located steps away from Texas A&M University and surrounded by College Station's finest shopping and dining? Look no further. Century Square's parking garage is a short 6 minute walk from Zachry Engineering Center and an 8 minute walk to the Emerging Technologies Building!

The University Parking Program at Century Square allows students, faculty, and staff to park in Century Square's parking garage with a semester-long pass. University Parking Passes will be valid between 7AM - 6PM, Monday through Friday on levels FOUR and FIVE of the parking garage.

For detailed information on rates and inquiries please call 979.559.9382 or email centurysquare@midwaycompanies.com

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Captn_Ag05 said:

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Century Square is now advertising for students and staff to park in their parking garage instead of parking on campus. They've even launched a semester parking program. Wasn't the reason that they gave for needing to charge for parking to begin with to keep people going to campus from parking in their parking and taking away spots from retail and restaurant customers? And now they are advertising and asking college students and staff to park at Century Square? That's rich.

From their site:

Quote:

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Looking for convenient parking in a garage located steps away from Texas A&M University and surrounded by College Station's finest shopping and dining? Look no further. Century Square's parking garage is a short 6 minute walk from Zachry Engineering Center and an 8 minute walk to the Emerging Technologies Building!

The University Parking Program at Century Square allows students, faculty, and staff to park in Century Square's parking garage with a semester-long pass. University Parking Passes will be valid between 7AM - 6PM, Monday through Friday on levels FOUR and FIVE of the parking garage.

For detailed information on rates and inquiries please call 979.559.9382 or email centurysquare@midwaycompanies.com

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We seem to park in the garage about once or twice a month and we never have issues parking on level 1 through 3; so I don't see an issue with them trying to sell more spots when they aren't being utilized. In fact, level 3 is usually about 10-15% full when we go.

The only issue I have ever had parking in that garage is the time I was held hostage for 30+ minutes. We were all directed to one exit. Then sent back to the other. Press the button for assistance. Give them ALL YOUR INFO when they finally come over the speaker to assist. Explain to the "assistant" that there are 7 cars behind you and she needs to leave the bleeping arm up. But she doesn't.

I take my chances with tickets.

From a business standpoint, I don't have an issue with it. I just find it strange that they used the need to keep students from parking there as the justification for charging for parking to begin with and now they are advertising for students to park there.

I'd gladly pay than park in the parking garage, unless you drive a prius it's tiiiiight

aggiepaintrain said:

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I'd gladly pay than park in the parking garage, unless you drive a prius it's tiiiiight

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We have a Tahoe and have never had issues parking in their garage. We went again last night. It's not that bad.

The info on the table at Mo's said that in the garage, parking is free during lunch hours on weekdays and all day Sunday

Captn_Ag05 said:

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Century Square is now advertising for students and staff to park in their parking garage instead of parking on campus. They've even launched a semester parking program. Wasn't the reason that they gave for needing to charge for parking to begin with to keep people going to campus from parking in their parking and taking away spots from retail and restaurant customers? And now they are advertising and asking college students and staff to park at Century Square? That's rich.

From their site:

Quote:

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Looking for convenient parking in a garage located steps away from Texas A&M University and surrounded by College Station's finest shopping and dining? Look no further. Century Square's parking garage is a short 6 minute walk from Zachry Engineering Center and an 8 minute walk to the Emerging Technologies Building!

The University Parking Program at Century Square allows students, faculty, and staff to park in Century Square's parking garage with a semester-long pass. University Parking Passes will be valid between 7AM - 6PM, Monday through Friday on levels FOUR and FIVE of the parking garage.

For detailed information on rates and inquiries please call 979.559.9382 or email centurysquare@midwaycompanies.

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So a TAMU parking permit will give you access to levels 4 and 5 of the garage, correct? Do you have to acquire an additional permit from CS? Would you just swipe your TAMU permit to get out of the garage?

The way I read it, the CS permit would be in addition to your TAMU permit.