Officials in Washington, D.C., are set to hike the hourly rate on parking meters by 200 percent.
Parking meter rates across the city will rise from 75 cents to $2.30 an hour during normal demand hours. Premium parking zones and commercial loading areas will see rates rise from $2 to $2.30. The D.C. Council passed the law to boost city revenue by as much as $12 to $14 million annually, reports Fox 5.
Drivers will have to prepare for the much criticized 200 percent increase, which is set to go into affect Wednesday.
“These changes represent a bonanza for the city’s coffers, but motorists gain nothing,” John Townsend, the manager of public and government affairs for AAA’s mid-Atlantic region told Fox 5. “The city is ripping off motorists without adding a single parking space to the curbside parking inventory.”
The D.C. Council voted in November to reduce the hours of operation for parking meters from midnight to 10 a.m., but decided to raise the rate charged. The Council originally planned on expanding all meter hours to midnight, but after confusion over calculating the added benefit to the system the Council settled on a rate increase, reports NBC Washington.
“The exercise today is about money,” D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson said at November’s vote. “I don’t think this is out of step and I think that this is a better approach than the extended hours.”
Motorists are upset with the massive increase given other parking related costs in the District have risen sharply in the past year. A $5 increase in the fine for expired meters and for residential parking ticket fines went into affect in October. Some experts say the large increase in meter fees is asking too much of District drivers.
“The rate for on-street parking increases to 50 cents for every 13 minutes,” Townsend told Fox 5 about the rate hike. “Beleaguered motorists are already coping with a 20 percent spike in expired meter ticket fines, and a 16.6 percent hike in residential parking ticket fines.”
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