At 11:00 a.m., the Seattle Department of Transportation will release the first part of a two-phase study on parking rates and availability in Seattle. Some background is here. Funded by the council in last year’s budget, the study of spaces downtown and in various neighborhoods is aimed at determining whether raising the rates will increase parking turn over, thereby making it easier and faster to park, and also decreasing street congestion that results from people looking for a parking space.
[Note: Presser is over. I’ve pulled down the live feed.]
UPDATES: Street parking rates will increase in nine neighborhoods, remain the same in nine neighborhoods, and go down in four neighborhoods. Rates increase to $4 in First Hill, in the downtown core, and Pioneer Square.
The study finds that parking was at 100 percent occupancy—too much to hit the ideal one or two free spaces for block—in First Hill and parts of downtown.
The city will extend parking hours in eight neighborhoods from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. They are: Belltown, Capitol Hill, the downtown core, Chinatown, the International District, Pike/Pine, Pioneer Square, the University District, and Uptown Neighborhood.
The schedule: Rate changes begin in February. Evening rates will be implemented between April and August.
The estimated revenue will increase by approximately $6 million, which is a few hundred thousand less than projected when the city approved the budget last fall. In total, the city expects to collect $32 million from parking revenue this year.
So long as they don’t cut transit service in these neighborhoods during those hours, I’m ok with this.
Great. Now I’ll have to move my car two hours after I get home. Wish I could do without a car. Now I’ll be forced to pump more carbon into the air at 8 o’clock M-F. 🙁
What if this fails? many people avoid different cities because of the transportation costs.
@3 where? in Tunisia?
we’ve heard about how people would start shopping on the Eastside, but actual numbers don’t support that – it’s a long drive and the money spent on gas and the time driving there usually makes it more expensive to do that than to pay for parking … if you need a car that is. Or use local parking garages or business provided parking.
Ride a bike.
we need more free bikes with paniers or baskets, Gurldoggie.
Where the heck is Uptown?
@3: Well, if this leads to less net revenue than the current system, I imagine it might be reversed.
But as long as parking stays at near-capacity, my guess is that any shift in demographics towards people who don’t notice/care about a few bucks for parking will be positive for local businesses as well as increasing public revenue.
If the city knew what it’s doing, it would charge for parking in Uptown ONLY at night. Not nearly as many people pay for parking on Queen Anne/Roy/Mercer during the day as park for free a couple blocks to the west/north/south.
@7 South Queen Anne. To the west of Seattle Center.
uh, doesn’t that mean they’ll have to hire more parking cops?
yay! jobs!
I think this turned out to be disastrous for businesses when they did it in Oakland, CA last year.
I take the bus or ride my bike to work downtown from West Seattle every day, but I drive to shop and when I go out at night. I already (mostly) where there’s free parking available. The extension of pay parking on the street will definitely curtail my evenings out. Effectively, if you want to go out to eat and to a show you can’t park on the street. Find a lot, take the bus (and the bus home after the show; yuck!), or stay home. I’ll still go to shows but not as many if its going to cost another $10.00-$15.00 to park.