The fine for breaking the law is not supposed to be reasonable at all its supposed to be a big pain in the ass, that's the point. The money you pay at the meter should be reasonable the fine for still being there beyond the time you payed for is punitive. If the fine was reasonable people would simply leave their car there and eat the fine which defeats the purpose of having the meter there in the first place.

Metered parking exists because there are not enough spaces available in a given area to accommodate demand otherwise. If you let the meter run out and get fined chances are you WILL pay closer attention to the clock in the future. As cash grabs go not exactly a honey pot especially when you consider the overall costs involved: infrastructure, collection, administration, enforcement, traffic studies and so on.

My dumb friend parked his jeep at the curb at 58th and Columbus Circle once because he just wanted to run into the bar for a minute and say hello to his wife. His pint ended up costing him $358. Why so much? Because at 5pm 58th street turns into a rapid access route for police and emergency services. He was broke at the time and he cried about it for months but you know what? He never did it again.