How much parking currently is offered Downtown?
There are approximately 2,200 on-street meters and three municipal garages with 2,450 parking spaces. An additional roughly 4,500 parking spaces are provided through private garages and surface lots.
Why does Downtown even have parking meters? Why not have free on-street parking?
Meters with hourly rates help provide reasonable turn-over at close-in parking for shopping and dining patrons. One meter can serve multiple patrons coming and going throughout a day, compared to a free space that could be occupied all day or all evening by employees, overnight hotel patrons or other long-term users. Instead, long-term users are better served by nearby parking garages, where rates are lower than meters for lengthy stays.
How does the ParkMoble app work?
The free ParkMobile app can be downloaded to any smartphone. To use the app:
- Create an account. This requires your credit card information and car license plate number(s).
- When you pull into a parking spot, enter the Zone number and Space number, located on the meter.
- Enter the amount of time you will stay. A .30 processing fee will be added to your total cost.
- You will receive alerts before your meter expires, and have the opportunity to add time remotely if you choose to do so. The .30 fee will not be charged if you add time to your current session.
- Find additional info about the app at ParkMobile.io.
Who manages parking Downtown?
Metered parking and municipal garages are managed by the Parking System Enterprise of the City of Colorado Springs. As an enterprise, the Parking System is supported through parking fees – not through taxpayer dollars. Click to learn more about the PARKING ENTERPRISE.
Where does money from parking meters and municipal garages go?
Parking fees are not a tax, and do not go into the city general fund. These fees go directly to:
- Maintenance of current systems, operations and enforcement of the parking system. Learn more about structural needs or listen to a podcast.
- Construction of new structured parking.
- Upgraded parking technologies, including new meters and garage entry/exit systems.
- Streetscape improvements to enhance pedestrian safety, connectivity and attractiveness of areas served by metered or structured parking. (Streetscape features include pavers, pedestrian lighting and intersection bulb-outs that improve safety.)
Why did parking meter rates change in 2020?
This is the first parking meter rate change in the city in 14 years, with rates increased by 25 cents per hour. Meters closest to the city center will charge $1.25 per hour; meters further out will be $1 per hour; and meters on the periphery will be 75 cents per hour.
What about municipal garages?
Rates are roughly $1 per hour, with a daily maximum of $9 in city-operated garages. Evening rates are $1 all evening and weekends. Parking in privately operated garages or surface lots throughout Downtown can be up to four, six or even 10 times higher than the rates offered at municipal garages.
Why were changes made to parking rates and hours in 2020?
Downtown Colorado Springs is experiencing rapid growth and change. With a workforce of 29,000, Downtown is a dense urban environment unlike anywhere else in the city. Downtown now is adding hundreds of new apartment residents annually, and will double its number of hotel rooms in the next two years. With the largest concentration of locally owned restaurants in Southern Colorado, early evening hours are now some of the busiest times in the city center. These expanded dining, residential and overnight hotel usages prompted the need to extend meter hours into the evening. Extended meter hours create turnover, opening close-in spaces every few hours for dining and cultural patrons. Nighttime employees, overnight hotel guests and overnight residential guests shift to using parking garages, which are more appropriate for longer stays.
What about new technologies for parking meters?
As early as first quarter of 2020, parking meters will be updated with new technology. New meters will allow for patrons to use a smartphone app to extend time on their parking meter remotely.
What about parking for the new Downtown Stadium?
When completed and into its early years of operation, the Downtown Stadium will be served by a variety of parking options walkable within a few blocks. Among those options – beyond the metered and structured parking that exists today – will include hundreds of new spaces in surface lots just north of the stadium, and, as Weidner Apartment Homes begins developing adjacent properties with residential and mixed uses, those developments will include both dedicated structured parking for residents as well as supplemental structured parking spaces for stadium and restaurant patrons.