As part of his 2012 budget, Mayor Mike McGinn has proposed tweaking on-street meter parking rates from the levels adopted earlier this year—increasing rates in some neighborhoods, decreasing them in others, and keeping them the same in others—and tweaking the hours for paid parking in several neighborhoods. (None of those changes requires city council approval, unless McGinn wants to raise rates above the council-approved $4 hourly maximum.)
Next year, PubliCola hears, McGinn could ask the city council for permission to charge for parking on Sundays and to charge seasonal parking rates, starting at the Ballard Locks. Seattle Department of Transportation parking operations manager Mike Estey says neither proposal is on the table in the short term or as part of McGinn’s budget.
Overall, the new parking rates are fairly minor, with some small upticks and downticks and tweaks to the hours paid parking is required. My main observation from this data is that, when it comes to looking for parking, people aren’t very logical (or they’re very lazy): Utilization rates are dramatically higher on major thoroughfares like NW Market in Ballard and University Way NE in the U District than they are just a block or two away, meaning that people are overcrowding major roads (and wasting time searching for parking on those roads) instead of driving a block away where parking is readily available.
Here’s a look at the new parking rates, along with the rate of parking utilization (how many spaces are full) by neighborhood, with changes in bold:
12th Avenue
Full spaces: 57% Price: Same, at $1.50/hr Maximum parking time: 2 hours
Ballard Core
Full spaces: 88% Price: $2.00, up from $1.50 Maximum parking time: 2 hours
Ballard Edge
Full spaces: 38% Price: Same, at $1.50 Maximum parking time: 4 hours, up from 2
Ballard Locks
Full spaces: 59% Price: Same, at $1.50/hr Maximum parking time: 3 hours
Belltown North
Full spaces: 36% Price: Same, at $2/hr Maximum parking time: 4 hours, up from 2
Belltown South
Full spaces: 63% Price: $2.50/hr, up from $2 Maximum parking time: 2 hours
Capitol Hill Core
Full spaces: 86% Price: Same, at $3/hr Maximum parking time: 2 hours
Capitol Hill Edge
Full spaces: 38% Price: $2.50, down from $3 Maximum parking time: 2 hours
Cherry Hill
Full spaces: 87% Price: Same, at $1.50/hr Maximum parking time: 2 hours
Chinatown/International District
Full spaces: 72% Price: Same, at $2.50/hr Maximum parking time: 2 hours
Commercial Core
Full spaces: 79% Price: Same, at $4.00/hr Maximum parking time: 2 hours
Denny Triangle North
Full spaces: 31% Price: Same, at $2/hr Maximum parking time: 4 hours, up from 2
Denny Triangle South
Full spaces: 77% Price: Same, at $2.50/hr Maximum parking time: 2 hours
* Parking hours in the Denny Triangle South neighborhood will be extended to 8 pm.
First Hill
Full spaces: 81% Price, Same, at $4.00/hr Maximum parking time: 2 hours
Fremont
Full spaces: 77% Price: Same, at $1.50/hr Maximum parking time: 2 hours
Green Lake
Full spaces: 62% Price: Same, at $1.00/hr Maximum parking time: 2 hours
Pike-Pine
Full spaces: 74% Price: Same, at $2.00/hr Maximum parking time: 2 hours
Pioneer Square Core
Full spaces: 76% Price: Same, at $3.50/hr Maximum parking time: 2 hours
Pioneer Square Edge
Full spaces: 49% Price: $3/hr, down from $3.50 Maximum parking time: 2 hours
Roosevelt
Full spaces: 48% Price: Same, at $1.00/hr Maximum parking time: 4 hours, up from 3
South Lake Union
Full two-hour spaces: 52% Price: Same, at $1.50/hr
Full ten-hour spaces: 73% Price: Between $1.00 and $1.50 an hour, depending on location, changed from $1.25 to $1.50 an hour
* SDOT is also increasing the number of ten-hour spaces in South Lake Union.
University District Core
Full spaces: 93% Price: $2.00/hr, up from $1.50 Maximum parking time: 2 hours
University District Edge
Full spaces: 38% Price: Same, at $1.50/hr Maximum parking time: 4 hours, up from 2 hours
Uptown Core
Full spaces: 53% Price: Same, at $1.50/hr Maximum parking time: 2 hours
Uptown Edge
Full spaces: 41% Price: Same, at $1.50/hr Maximum parking time: 4 hours, up from 2 hours
Uptown Triangle
Full spaces: 31% Price: Same, at $1/hr Maximum parking time: 10 hours, up from a mix of 2-, 3-, and 10-hour spaces
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