New Parking Meter Hours Start Monday

By Stina Sieg
Published: Monday, August 18, 2014 - 5:05am
Updated: Tuesday, August 19, 2014 - 11:19am

Say goodbye to free parking on nights, weekends and holidays in downtown Phoenix. Extended meter hours go into effect Monday.

That means you’ll have to pay to park downtown from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. every single day. And this is just a warm up to larger changes.

Right now, all meters are $1.50 per hour. But in November, downtown meters will adopt dynamic pricing. That means hourly rates will fluctuate from 50 cents to $4. Matthew Heil is a spokesman for the city. He said these changes will increase parking availability.

"You have one or two spaces always available, based on where the pricing is, in a given area of meters," Heil said. "So, there’s enough for someone to usually be able to find a place to park without having a high level of vacancy."

And these changes will raise money, the city estimates about $1 million. But there are critics. Heil said the city is still working with students at ASU’s downtown campus who are concerned how the new rates and hours will affect them.