Parking Study - 2014

The City of St. Louis Treasurer's Office hired Desman Associates to conduct a comprehensive study of parking after issuing a request for proposal (RFP) for a consultant to evaluate the city's current on and off-street parking programs and to recommend improvements to the parking system.

This study is required by city code 17.62.050, which states that the Parking Supervisor is directed to conduct periodic studies and surveys to determine any specific actions required to effectively control public parking including:

• the number and location of parking meters
• parking permit programs and special parking zones
• the hours of parking meter operation
• parking violations fines and penalties

The parking study was done in conjunction with a six month field test of various parking technologies. The field test ended last July, and plans are underway to install new parking technology in the next few months.The goal is to provide St. Louis with a cost-effective on-street parking system that allows people to use cash, credit cards and mobile phones to pay for parking.

Desman Associates provided recommendations on parking utilization;national and international best practices; future deployment of parking meters;guidelines for establishing and maintaining permit parking zones;pricing; and principles for accommodating special events and construction.

Desman's preliminary recommendations include raising the parking meter rates to $1.50 an hour in high demand areas and $1.00 an hour in low demand areas. The rates are currently $1.00 an hour in downtown and 75 cents an hour in the rest of the city.

Desman also recommends raising Class 1 parking violations to $15 from $10, while keeping Class 2 parking violations at $25. Street cleaning tickets, which are currently Class 1 violations, will now be Class 2 violations. Class 3 violations are recommended to increase to $40 from $25, and Class 4 violations (disabled parking fines) are recommended to increase to $100 from $75.

If the Parking Commission approves the recommendations, the rates would take effect July 1, 2015.

Read the 2014 Parking Study Findings