Philly parking tickets will never be the same

I knew I was taking a chance when I parked Wednesday night at a Center City meter that I had to leave by 9 a.m.

And sure enough, the notoriously efficient Parking Authority officer saw my car at 9:06 a.m. and decorated it with a $26 ticket - mere minutes before I arrived to move it.

This wasn't just any ticket, but a new type of ticket, generated by a handheld computer that prints the time, date, plate, make of car, color and meter number.

Yes, folks. There goes one of your grounds for challenging your parking tickets: no more illegible handwriting.

Plus there was a real envelope with a window to put the ticket inside. No more of those tickets that come apart at the seams, where you have to fold up your check several times and squeeze it into the stamped envelope.

I once received a partially ground-up ticket from the U.S. Postal Service - sans check - in a plastic bag. Did the USPS machinery spit it out in that condition?

Well, I stupidly threw it away, then received an additional fine from the Parking Authority for not paying the ticket on time.

Here comes the really bad news: This isn't just a pilot program, folks.

Linda Miller, spokeswoman for the Parking Authority, said 80 percent of officers who issue tickets have been trained in the new technology since last December.

Every night, the data gets downloaded, so you don't have to wait until the ticket is processed by clerks to challenge it.

By summer's end, all the officers will be trained in the handheld computer.

And you can kiss those other excuses you give to the ticket adjudicator goodbye. *