No April Fooling…Seattle Increases the Cost For This!
The weather has finally seemed to turn the corner in the Northwest and with it comes the promise of Spring. It also is coming with the promise of a price increase in some Seattle neighborhoods.
Roughly two-thirds of the city will see these increases and they are being done to help with availability in business areas and to prevent the endless circling you see done by numerous drivers during the day as they look for a place to do this. We can only be talking about one thing...parking...and the new rates associated with the privilege of being able to do on the street.
How Much of an Increase Are We Talking?
That depends on the area. The on-street parking increases are a part of SDOT's (Seattle Department of Transportation) regular season update. Most of the business districts with paid parking will incur a rate increase for the meter. The First hill area will see an increase of a full dollar, while other areas went up less. A full interactive layout of the new increases can be found here.
Why are the Parking Rates Going Up?
That's always a fair question to ask, especially when you see increases of a dollar in one area. The idea behind it is by increasing the price, people will parking for a shorter amount of time in one spot. That would theoretically create open parking spots more frequently than what is currently being seen.
Ultimately, it would help business by creating a few more rotating open spots and limit the amount of times people are driving in circles looking for an open spot in that area. All of the parking rates by the way are hourly, so in the First Hill District it will be $2 per hour.
Don't get too comfortable with the current rates though. As SDOT will be analyzing the parking data and is expected to announce another increase in time for summer.