(Atomische's flickr).

Parking tickets are about to get 33 percent more expensive for a lot of drivers. Starting January 31, 2012, the city will be scrapping a popular program that would let motorists pay a reduced fine if they agreed not to fight their summons in court. The city expects to make roughly $50 million a year by nixing the program. That's more than diplomats owe in unpaid tickets!

What's funny is that the program, instituted in 2007, was actually started as a way to save the city money and to deal with a backlog of unpaid tickets. It just became so popular that it stopped being a good deal for the city. In fiscal year 2009 680,000 people took advantage of the program, while this year it has been used 1.3 million times.

Parking fines bring in about $600 million a year in city services, which is not actually that large a part of the city's annual revenue. Which is why at least City Council Transportation Committee Chairman James Vacca is pissed about the decision: "Removing even the most limited of fairness programs truly proves the point that enforcement of traffic laws is too often about raising revenue in any way the taxpayer can be squeezed."

It won't just be the little people sad about this. Considering how much companies like FedEx and Fresh Direct spend each year on parking tickets, this could have a direct effect on their bottom lines.