How much do you pay for parking?

[Katrina]

Do you live in the city or travel to a city where there aren't many parking spots and find that you need to pay for parking? How much do you pay or are willing to pay? In the cities I go to the most parking is about $25 USD for the day. That's a lot of money. The last time I parked I was there for 4 hours and paid $15 USD.

My little town has meters (which I disagree with!) and it's 50 cents to park for an hour I think? It's been a while since I paid for parking there and I usually park in the residential areas instead because I'm not there very long when I go to town. They're building a parking garage and I dread finding out how much parking rates will be there.

 

[Deleted member 7467]

2-3 dollars for street parking if I’ll be there for long periods of time in town. Free at home even on street. After 5PM and on weekends, they don’t meter read. At the university, my license plate is not attached to their ticketing system and they don’t attach to the city so free.

 

[Katrina]

My daughter recently moved to a city where practically every street has a different type of parking sign restriction. It's crazy. She said they do that purposely to confuse people so they get more money. I believe it. It seems on Sundays a lot of the residential areas are okay to park without penalty.

 

[Elli]

For street parking in the city, it's only $2 per hour and all the meters use the same system. You can even pay online. If you go into the big mall's parking garage (which is underground and huge), it's free for the first two hours and then $2 for each additional hour up to $20 max.

If there's no street parking or mall parking, usually because of a big event, I like to go to one of the church's garages. It's always super clean, the attendants are super nice, and it's $10 for the whole day. For some reason, people don't seem to realize that you can park there... so it's like my little secret.

Outside of the city, though, I rarely see any paid parking. But you'll definitely get towed if you park in the wrong place. We have a predatory towing problem.

 

[USHost247]

We don’t have any paid parking in my small town. Now, if I travel 30 minutes to Charlotte NC, the parking is ridiculous and is around the ranges you specified.

 

[Cam]

Have any of you guys used ParkMobile, or any similar types of paid parking apps? They basically allow us to reserve parking spots well in advance, and you can usually find some really good parking rates because of that. For example, I paid like $6 to park in a parking garage that was literally right next to Nissan Stadium in Nashville, TN. And then you look at the signs, and they were asking $39.99 for parking for the people that didn't pay in advance and were having to pay at a kiosk.

In all seriousness though, I try my best to avoid paying for parking whenever I can. It's a dangerous game, especially in Nashville.

 

[Elli]

In all seriousness though, I try my best to avoid paying for parking whenever I can. It's a dangerous game, especially in Nashville.

I can see how parking in Nashville could be a problem. When I was there in 2012, I saw hardly any street parking and there were a ton of people, especially at night.

 

[Deleted member 17779]

If you can go downtown, you have to feed change into the meter. I forget how much change you have to feed the meter for an hour. I haven't had to go downtown for anything in a long while. Other than that, I'm not aware of having to pay for parking in the city where I live.

 

[TechWiz18]

I don't live in a high enough density area for paid parking to really be a thing. The city I live in has considered it I think because of the amount of tourism we get but they've not implemented anything yet.

 

[USHost247]

Have any of you guys used ParkMobile, or any similar types of paid parking apps? They basically allow us to reserve parking spots well in advance, and you can usually find some really good parking rates because of that. For example, I paid like $6 to park in a parking garage that was literally right next to Nissan Stadium in Nashville, TN. And then you look at the signs, and they were asking $39.99 for parking for the people that didn't pay in advance and were having to pay at a kiosk.

In all seriousness though, I try my best to avoid paying for parking whenever I can. It's a dangerous game, especially in Nashville.

Holy moly! $40 smackaroos just to park your car...

 

[Slix]

Street parking by me is free, but we have to alternate sides on residential streets by my house to avoid a ticket. But when I go downtown, I avoid paying for parking either by walking an extra block or two, or going after 6pm when the meters are free. Going to busier cities with more expensive parking for things like concerts is always mind boggling to me. I would rather walk a few blocks than pay $5 even. 😛

 

[USHost247]

Street parking by me is free, but we have to alternate sides on residential streets by my house to avoid a ticket. But when I go downtown, I avoid paying for parking either by walking an extra block or two, or going after 6pm when the meters are free. Going to busier cities with more expensive parking for things like concerts is always mind boggling to me. I would rather walk a few blocks than pay $5 even. 😛

I will just drive to the AMTRAK train and park there for free and pay $2.50 for a round trip ticket. 😛 Stay all day downtown and then go back to my car all for $2.50.

 

[overcast]

1$ for 5 hours of parking in paid parking space. Public parking however allows you 3 hours of stand.

 

[USHost247]

1$ for 5 hours of parking in paid parking space. Public parking however allows you 3 hours of stand.

$1 isn't really too bad. I wouldn't mind paying that.

 

[Katrina]

I'm so jealous of some of these low parking rates!!

At one of the garages on my daughter's block in the city they only take cash and I never have cash on me and don't even know if my ATM will work anymore so I'm kind of in a panic and asking my husband to give me $25 to keep in an envelope in my purse for emergency parking money. Isn't that awful? Who doesn't take credit cards anymore?

 

[Page]

My last location, My township has mixed paid and free parking. Most of the free parking only allowed two to three hours of free parking and then get £80 fine if you go over time. Other's are pay as you go or you pay as you leave. But everywhere you go it's not always free.

Major of the towns around me now are free but with time limits on it. But they are like 3 hours max stays anyway LOL but parking is free other than 20mins drive to the City then it's paid paid paid. In Sheffield at times £2 an hour to park.. so

 

[Liturgist]

I will just drive to the AMTRAK train and park there for free and pay $2.50 for a round trip ticket. 😛 Stay all day downtown and then go back to my car all for $2.50.

Is that on the NC-financed train? The Amtrak Surfliner and Metrolink in Southern California are much more expensive, and Amtrak completely disappears along the former UP through Las Vegas and Southern Utah, so there is no service between the route of the Southwest Chief on the old BNSF mainline from LA Union Station to Chicago (Union Station also being the terminus of the Southern Pacific lines to Seattle, on which the Coast Starlight operates, and to Texas, on which the Sunset Limited operates), until one reaches Oakland, where one can take the former SP-Western Pacific-Denver & Rio Grande Western - Chicago Burlington & Quincy route of the California Zephyr. And then finally only two of the five northern transcontinentals survive (two were in Canada and three were in the US), the Canadian, which I think runs on a mix of CP and CN trackage, and then on our side of the border, the former Great Northern Empire Builder, so alas no Northern Pacific and indeed the Milwuakee Road and its legendary Olympian Hiawatha service from Chicago to Seattle is largely abandoned, which is a shame; as late as the late 1970s part of that railroad was electrified.