To Ticket of Not to Ticket?

Curious what others think of this. Or, share your Metro parking stories.

From Gina:

As you probably know, Springfield parking garage is under construction, so it's missing a lot of spaces.

The other morning, it was packed solid--not a space to be found at 8:45 a.m.

Lots of cars were wandering around, so a lot of us gave up and parked at the end of the rows, NOT in a handicapped space and NOT blocking traffic, just not in a marked space.

The end of every row on the 6th deck had already been filled with overflow cars, so I parked on the 5th deck in the same way.

I got back that night to find a $50 parking ticket. When I looked around, I saw every other car parked the way mine was also had a ticket.

It just seems ridiculous that I paid to park there, AND I paid to ride Metro AND then I got a parking ticket.

I'm not really sure what we are expected to do if there are no legit spaces left in the garage during rush hour (It's not like there is a larger garage around.)

I recognize I wasn't in a real spot, but during construction there should be some leniency.

It's like someone thought, hey here's a way to make some extra money. It's like biting the hand that feeds you. They just don't get it.

What do you gain by punishing your regular customers?

Other items:
SmarTrip debacle (Examiner/Post/WTOP)
Overhaul of Orange and Blue lines moves forward (WMATA)