Downtown Durham getting 1,000 paid parking meters

DURHAM, North Carolina (WTVD) -- The City of Durham is adding about 1,000 on-street parking meters downtown.[br /][br /]The new paid parking is scheduled to begin on February 27. Workers will begin installing the meters along with new signs this week.[br /][Ads /][br /]"If you've been downtown lately, you've seen just how busy it is and how scarce our on-street parking has become," said Thomas Leathers, Parking Management Division Administrator. "We're going to provide more access to downtown parking with the added convenience of having multiple ways to pay."[br /][br /][url HREF="http://abc11.com/apps/" TARGET="new" REL=""][b]Stay on top of breaking news stories with the ABC11 News App[/b][/url][br /][br /]The new on-street parking will use a combination of single-space parking meters and multi-space pay stations, which will accept credit and debit card payments, cash and coin payments, and be compatible with Passport's pay-by-phone app.[br /][br /]So how much is this going to cost? On-street hourly parking rate will be $1.50 per hour. Many spaces will have a time limit enforced during peak usage hours.[br /][br /]Leathers said the meters were a recommendation in the Comprehensive Parking Study to encourage the much-need turnover of vehicles to meet rapidly growing demand.[br /]On-street metered parking isn't the only option for residents and visitors, Leathers said.[br /][Ads /][br /]"Through our off-street parking options, we offer four centrally located parking garages and three surface parking lots with the same easy-to-use payment system and an affordable $1.25 hourly rate," Leathers said. "While the rate in our garages and surface lots will increase by 25 cents to $1.25 per hour beginning February 27, there are no time constraints on these parking spaces, so this is a great option if you're going to be downtown for a considerable amount of time."[br /][br /]Special-event parking will also become more expensive for motorists, increasing from $3 to $5 per hour in the city's parking garages effective February 27. The city says this increase is needed to offset the costs associated with providing maintenance and a security presence in the parking facilities.[br /][br /]For more information, visit the [b][url HREF="http://www.parkdurham.org/[br /]" TARGET="new" REL=""]ParkDurham website[/url][/b].[br /][br /][b][url HREF="http://bit.ly/1TfmsxL"]Report a Typo[/url][/b]