By Staff
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
The City of Seattle is setting new on-street parking rates throughout 34 paid parking areas, after an annual analysis of city parking data.
The areas were evaluated for how full they were during morning, afternoon, and evening hours on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, in mostly March and April of this year.
In some areas, rates will rise while others, like the Chinatown-International District (C-ID) Core, will fall.
The C-ID Core is South King and South Weller streets between 6th Avenue South and 8th Avenue South, and 6th, Maynard, and 7th Avenues, between South King and South Lane Streets.
In the Core from 8–11 a.m., parking will decrease from $1.50 per hour to $1 per hour.
Rates in the C-ID Edge will not change. The Edge is outside the Core and is bounded by I-5 to the east, South Dearborn Street to the south, 4th Avenue South to the west, and South Washington Street to the north.
The highest rates will be in the downtown core and Pioneer Square, where prices will increase to $5 per hour between 11 a.m.–6 p.m.
The city aims to keep parking occupancy — the percentage of spots filled with cars — in a target range of 70 to 85 percent, leaving one to two open spaces available per block. The city then makes pricing changes based on supply and demand.
Seattle is expected to collect $39.4 million in street-parking revenue this year, said Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) spokesperson Mafara Hobson.
SDOT plans to collect data in spring 2019 to inform rate changes for fall 2019.
Staff can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.