1 in 5 Philadelphia parking ticket appeals were online in 2013

Nearly one in five Philadelphia parking ticket appeals were online in 2013, the first year that the City of Philadelphia allowed people to fight tickets online. A City Council bill sparked the change.

Out of more than 84,000 parking ticket appeals in 2013, 15,728, or about 19 percent, happened through the city’s website, according to data from the Bureau of Administrative Adjudication, the office that hears parking appeals.

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Since the city introduced the online option, the number of parking ticket appeals hasn’t increased overall, said Jerry Connors, head of the BAA.

What else changed since his office started offering online appeals?

Wait times for in-person hearings, which could top out at 90 minutes, have gone way down, Connors said.

That’s because online appeals don’t require the immediate response that an in-person hearing might, but he also has extra hands on deck, adding four more staffers to hear appeals in 2013.

Online hearings move faster, too. If you appeal online, you’ll get an answer in about a month, Connors said. But if you ask for an in-person hearing, you’ll have to wait about three months.