News and notes from Reston (tm).

Thursday, March 16, 2017

ParkRTC or RA WebTrac: Which Reston App Is The Worst?

As the ongoing war of public opinion between Reston Town Center and its own tenants over paid parking continues, with the fancy Washington Post "news paper" finally catching wind of the recent unpleasantness with our "stressful city-like shopping center," the most recent rebuttal of Boston Properties' exercise in crisis management "open letter" to the community by the RTC merchants included a world-class burn:

The “parking ambassadors” are unfriendly and not helpful, and seem to be on hand mostly to warn you that you must pay. They are not knowledgeable about the system and generally can’t help guests figure it out. Educational signage? The signage is not succinct and/or user-friendly. One customer – an astronaut! – was having trouble figuring it all out in a timely fashion, and complained to the proprietor of the store she was in.
Yes, apparently figuring out the unhelpful ParkRTC app is rocket science.

But ParkRTC has some competition of late. For unknown reasons, the Reston Association "upgraded" its own web infrastructure to something called WebTrac, which as far as we can tell, will allow us to pay for our pool passes at warp speed or with lasers, or something. Look at how convenient it is, as this photo sent to us by a Confidential Restonian Operative shows:

The whole "variety of reasons" thingy doesn't exactly give us confidence about the new brilliant plan to ensure that the RA can finally bring to an end the scourge that is bringing it to financial ruin. No, not future purchases of leaky lake houses, silly rabbits! We're finally getting serious about that time your kid borrowed his brother's pool pass so his friend from the uncivilized wilds beyond the pale beige, like Herndon or (gasp) Sterling, could check out what our fancy ce-ment ponds look like without paying the $5 guest fee. Once we start cracking down on this MASSIVE FRAUD, we'll recoup the Leak House purchase price almost immediately, or at least just as soon as we bring 520,000 of these cheaters to JUSTICE. Alls we need to do is upload photos, unless we really don't want to, and lasers or something will chime whenever an IMPOSTOR tries to breach the impenetrable fortresses that are RA's pools:

What could possibly go wrong?

6 comments:

  1. It really isn't that difficult.

    You link it to your credit card.
    Create a vehicle with your licence plate #
    Enter your zone number.
    Enter amount of time.
    Go about on your way.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Are You Kidding Me?!March 17, 2017 at 9:57 PM

      1. Not giving you my credit card, give me your checking account instead!
      2. My vehicle changes.
      3. Yeah, that would be the Twilight Zone?! Oh, you renamed things again!
      4. How could we possibly know that upfront?
      5. Oh we have, as Anonymous' two-step plan unveiled below. Lake Anne has never looked more attractive as it is right now.

      Delete
  2. That's five steps. Here's a plan with just two:

    1) Drive to Tyson's, Herndon, Loudoun One, Mosaic, etc.
    2) Don't do any of those other things.

    That's it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. If you can't afford a couple of bucks to park, then stay home. I like it because it keeps out the riffraff and cheapskates...also, if you think that Lake Anne Village center is another option..then please go there and enjoy the stench of that place. Last summer I had the misfortune of stopping by and I could smell the putrid water from the parking lot.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Are You Seriously Kidding Me?!March 24, 2017 at 6:16 PM

      You still don't get it, do you? It is not about the "couple of bucks", not for the vast number of former patrons anyway who would spend a couple of hundred bucks a visit on a rare steak, a pair of panties from VS, a dinky toaster from WS, or a slave-made fruity electronics. It is about an ignorant corporation that is willing to wreak destruction for the most absurd reason, to get "a couple of bucks" at the expense of their clients, investors, and employees.

      Delete
    2. Looks like the BPX crisis managers are taking a new tack here. 😐

      Delete

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