Parking zones with changes in the latest SDOT update

(Image: City of Seattle)

It is still a bargain to park on the street in Seattle but the city is jacking up rates again in its busiest neighborhoods as it slowly returns its digital parking meters to pre-pandemic levels.

Starting today, Capitol Hill’s paid parking areas will be ratcheted up at least $0.50 an hour during afternoon and nighttime metering — the hotly contested core of the Hill around southern Broadway and Pike/Pine will see a $1.00 bump at night.

With paid parking weighing in between $0.50 and a maximum of $1.50 an hour around the Hill, we’re still a very long way from the pre-pandemic days of $4.50 an hour street parking.

Overall, the Seattle Department of Transportation says, on-street parking rates in Seattle remain at or below $2 per hour “at 95% of locations and times.”

CHS reported here last June on SDOT resuming regular adjustments to its paid rates as COVID restrictions were being lifted and the demand for street space was on the rise. Seattle remains unusually car focused among major West Coast cities. Unlike other cities that have reinstated pre-COVID parking meter rates, Seattle worked from a base rate of 50 cents per hour and has continued to adjust that based on demand.

Pre-pandemic rates hit as high as $4.50 per hour during evening hours in the heart of Capitol Hill.

Areas around Capitol Hill like First Hill also saw rates tick upward during midday and night hours as part of SDOT’s Spring 2022 adjustment. Meanwhile, a handful of areas saw rates adjusted downward during certain hours including along the Waterfront where morning rates were lowered by $0.50 as the area goes through years of construction and street changes following the removal of the Viaduct.

SDOT says it adjusts rates based on measured “parking occupancy levels.” It has also extended hours for paid parking in some areas of the city including Capitol Hill beginning in 2017.

SDOT says, “given the seasonal changes to parking and economic activity in Seattle,” you can expect two more adjustments this year currently planned for summer and fall.

San Francisco and its “Demand Responsive Parking,” for example, prices the bulk of its available spots between $2 and $4 an hour with rates jumping as high as $7 an hour in high demand areas or near events and sports venues.

While Seattle’s rates have remained relatively cheap, finding a space isn’t easier with a growing number of projects reducing the number of on-street spaces available and, hopefully, encouraging more people to find other means of getting about the city and the neighborhoods. Examples include protected bike lanes along E Union Street eliminating some parking spots to make way for a safe path for people biking, and the under construction Melrose Promenade project’s first phase will see parking spots eliminated in I-5 shores as well. Other on-street parking spots have been converted to loading spots for curbside pickup, while others have been turned into popular cafe and restaurant seating as the city has extended its permits for businesses to expand their seating into the street into 2023 — and maybe beyond.

Though it receives a lot of attention, paid street parking regulates only a portion of the city’s roadside parking demand with many areas falling under restricted parking zones near residential areas. The city is currently considering creation of a new East Capitol Hill Restricted Parking Zone near the areas along 19th Ave E.

You can stay up-to-date on parking rates in every neighborhood via Seattle’s on-street parking rate map.

PLEASE HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE!
Subscribe to CHS to help us pay writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for as little as $5 a month.