Contesting a Jersey City Parking Ticket Cost-Efficiently

Jersey City has automated its parking ticket enforcement. This has allowed the city to make issuing of tickets efficient. In this article, we will explain about Jersey City’s electronic citations and what you can do if you find yourself at the receiving end of the small printed citations.

How Does Jersey City Automate Its Citations?

Almost half of Jersey City’s parking citations are filed electronically. The local police department and the state police have been using e-ticketing systems to submit tickets electronically. 24 municipalities are using the Red Light Camera system while 36 parking authorities take advantage of the Parking Authority Ticketing System (PATS). Here is a deepdive into Jersey City’s network of citation systems:

What it is	What It Does
e-Ticketing	Helps traffic and parking enforcers issue tickets efficiently by electronically issuing summonses and tickets for moving and nonmoving citations
Red Light Camera	This system was abandoned in 2014 and was replaced by traffic cameras, which are usually found along state highways and toll roads.
e-CDR	Lets law enforcement officers electronically file criminal complaints.
Automated Traffic System/Automated Complaint System (ATS/ACS)	This system tracks the complete development of a traffic citation from printing and distribution to an officer, to its issuance to an offender, to its disposition, and to its placement on the driver history file where appropriate.
PATS	Enables parking officers to electronically file parking violations.

Explaining the PATS

The Parking Authority Ticketing System (PATS) system is a wireless ticketing system used by parking authorities across the state of New Jersey. Agencies are armed by the Administrative Office of Courts (AOC) with wireless handhelds and small printers for ticket issuance. This allows the information to be updated automatically in the AOC’s database, allowing for faster disposition. Here’s how the system works:

A parking enforcer inputs information into the handheld and uses cellular signals to submit the data to the database.
The handheld saves the information remotely until it is able to connect to a signal.
If wireless connection is not available, the officer, upon return to the office, can plug the handheld into its charger and the stored information is downloaded and transmitted into the municipal court’s database.

What Happens if I Don’t Pay a Jersey City Ticket?

Parking tickets are more just than mere inconveniences and signals for poor parking skills. If left ignored for too long, they do not simply go away. Instead, unpaid traffic tickets become worse. Although punishments can vary according to city and state, the most common consequence of an unpaid ticket is being slapped with late fees that could cost more than the original ticket. Here are some scenarios on what could happen to unpaid tickets:

More penalties are meted out on overdue tickets. Some state’s late fees have cumulative value and may keep adding up over time. For example, in California, an additional $300 fine could be added to overdue citations.
Two or more unpaid tickets could mean your car getting booted the next time you park, even if you were parked legally. Law enforcement has your details on file and in cities such as Jersey City, checking your records is easy.
If getting booted wasn’t bad enough, your car could be seized by the government as a consequence of unpaid citations. The state could put your vehicle up for auction to compensate for the amount due.
Cities like Memphis issue tickets with a court date attached to it. If you are able to pay for the fine before the date indicated, no need to appear in court. Otherwise, you will have to attend. If you ignore the court notice, the judge could issue a bench warrant for your arrest and you could end up in jail.
Jersey City’s parking enforcement bureau can forward your case to the collection agencies. When that happens, expect to deal with constant barrage of phone calls and emails. Some can even go to where you live or work.
If your case is forwarded to the debt collection agency, this will most likely appear in your credit score. When your credit score is adversely affected, you may not be able to apply for credit cards and loans.
Jersey City can also contact the DMV to have your vehicle registration cancelled or refuse renewal of registration until all the fines are paid.

Contest Parking Tickets in Jersey City With DoNotPay

If you believe you have been issued a citation by mistake, you do not have to pay it and dispute the ticket instead. However, take note that contesting a ticket on your own requires an investment of time and resources. You should be ready to sacrifice some time to prepare your documents for the trial. You can also hire an attorney to dispute the citation for you, but this will cost a huge amount of money.

DoNotPay’s AI Consumer Champion can help you dispute a ticket quickly and easily without having to spend thousands of dollars. With our app, all you have to do is: