Fighting parking tickets in the city is reportedly getting harder for drivers.

According to the New York Times, a settlement program introduced by the city in 2005 has made it easier for drivers to reduce parking fines, but harder to get a ticket dismissed completely.

Looking at statistics from the Department of Finance, the Times says since 2005, the percentage of parking tickets dismissed has gone down by 17 percent.

The percentage of tickets reduced, however, went up 12 percent.

Those figures can be attributed to the settlement program, which automatically gives most people who challenge tickets a chance to settle the ticket by paying a reduced fine.

The figures show that those who refuse the settlement and take the issue to a judge are more often slapped with the full fine.

(Source: NY1)