Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Y2K20 Parking Meter Software Glitch Causes Citywide SNAFU
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jan 3, 2020
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jan 3, 2020
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
We were all so busy revisiting Y2K anxiety, we forgot to pay attention to the computer glitch right in front of us: parking meters around the city have been malfunctioning since the start of the new year due to a software end date of January 1st, 2020. In other words: it's Y2K20 time.
The Department of Transportation said in a statement that parking meters are not currently accepting credit card payments and pre-paid parking cards. But this is actually a global problem stretching all the way to Australia, as there are tons of cities around the world that use the same software: "The outage was caused by a configuration error in the credit-card payment software used by Parkeon, a vendor for automated parking systems around the world," the DOT wrote. "The software in the model of Parkeon meter used in New York City had established an end date of January 1, 2020 – and had never been updated by the company. Cities worldwide using the same meters/software began seeing a series of cascading credit card rejections, starting in Australia, as the calendar reached that date."
DOT crews are now in the field reconfiguring the software at individual meters—the Times notes the city has 14,000 meters covering some 85,000 spaces, so it may take a little while longer to fix.
However, parking meters are still accepting coins, and the ParkNYC app is still working if you want to use credit cards. We've contacted the DOT to ask whether there will be any grace period given to parkers during this outage, and what will happen to people who have already been ticketed who didn't know about the error.
As someone pointed out on Twitter, this isn't the first time in the recent past that there was a major NYC tech problem caused by a failure to update or program software.
Tagged
parking meters
y2k20
parking
glitch
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
GOP candidates in NY face a changed landscape on immigration
The 'migrant crisis' has changed markedly since the voters went to the polls two years ago.
By
Arya Sundaram
Published Oct 28, 2026 at 6:30 a.m. ET
Mamdani plans redesign of Brooklyn's Third Avenue after nurse killed in hit-and-run
Sunset Park residents and street safety advocates have called on city officials to make the avenue safer for years.
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
News
Mamdani plans redesign of Brooklyn's Third Avenue after nurse killed in hit-and-run
Sunset Park residents and street safety advocates have called on city officials to make the avenue safer for years.
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
NJ Gov. Sherrill: Election is secure, noncitizens taken off voter rolls
By
Michael Sol Warren
Ex-NYPD officer again faces murder charge in George Washington Bridge shooting
By
Samantha Max
Former NYC buildings boss helped reopen mayor's favored restaurant despite health violations
By
David Brand
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .