What you're looking at is a self-parking pay lot. How it works is that a car drives into the lot and parks in a space. When the car parks in the space, the metal layer rises up making it impossible to drive out. To get the lever to lower, one has to pay a machine when they are ready to go. It's a really efficient system:1. Drive into the lot.
2. Park (the lever goes up)
3. When you're ready to leave, pay a machine (the lever goes down).
4. Drive out.
