The cost of on-street parking in St. Louis will go up in July. The city’s parking commission approved increased meter rates and fines Thursday. Parking meters located in high traffic areas will charge a $1.50 an hour, while low traffic areas will charge $1 an hour. That’s up from $1 and $0.75 respectively. Parking tickets will increase from $10 to $15.
“We’re confident that these price increases are modest enough that they won’t overwhelm the people who pay for on-street parking in the city,” said Debbie Johnson, a spokesperson for the St. Louis Treasurer’s Office.
Johnson said the additional revenue collected should be enough to pay for parking meter upgrades that accept credit card and smartphone payments.
Signs for the smartphone payment vendor Parkmobile are currently going up in downtown St. Louis. The app was originally slated to be open for business in September, but Johnson said there was a delay in getting the city’s contract with Parkmobile negotiated.
Johnson said they hope to have the Parkmobile signs up everywhere in the city by the end of December. She said they’re still working on a timeline for the new credit card meters, but they hope to have those in place by early 2015.
The parking rate and fine increases were recommended by a parking study completed in October.
Follow Camille Phillips on Twitter: @cmpcamille.
