Street parking is about to get cheaper in the mornings, but more expensive at night in Ballard.
The Seattle Department of Transportation has changed parking rates around the city, with some areas hit with higher rates and others seeing a drop in on-street parking costs. The changes come from SDOT’s 2018 Annual Parking Report, which found that in Ballard, during peak hours of 5pm to 9pm, on-street parking was at 95 percent capacity.
In Ballard, parking at the Locks will drop by 50 cents for all hours of the day, making it $1.50 per hour in the morning, and $2 for both afternoon and evenings. Parking in the core of Ballard — a total of 206 on-street parking spots — will change in two ways: mornings will be cheaper, dropping 50 cents to $1.50 per hour, and evenings will be more expensive, going from $2.50 per hour to $3, with SDOT considering extending the paid hours to 10pm. Afternoons will stay the same, ($2 per hour), as will all rates not in the Ballard core (341 total spots, and named Ballard “edge” in SDOT’s report).
According to the Seattle Times, on-street parking changes are based on supply and demand: “If rates are too high, not enough people are parking and spaces sit empty; if rates are too low, too many people try to park and it becomes harder for those who need a space to find one.”
SDOT is also in the process of changing on-street paid parking from pay-and-display to pay-by-plate. Rather than printing out a ticket to display on your window, users will go to a pay station, enter their license plate number, select amount of time desired, and confirm the transaction. They’ll offer optional online accounts to speed up the process.
The new rates will be rolling out soon around the city — click here for a full list of the rate changes across Seattle.