Parking in Arlington: New pilot program charges drivers more for high-demand spots
Parking is never easy in the DMV, but officials in Arlington County think they’ve come up with a solution. They are testing out a pilot program that increases the price of some of the most popular spots.
If you want to park in Arlington’s high-demand spots, it’ll cost you more money. There is a 50 cent per hour increase – Monday through Saturday – from 10 a.m to 2 p.m.
Why? Well, government officials want to encourage quick turnover in popular commercial areas like the Rosslyn-Ballston neighborhoods as well as along Richmond Highway, so spaces are available at all times.
The goal is to make metered parking more available, more often.
Photo via Arlington County
Essentially – they want people coming in and out of these businesses and not staying in a spot all day long.
"I can understand here why they want limits and not having people hanging out for more than a couple of hours," said Bary Johnson, Arlington Resident. "I think it’s more for the quick run in, do things, and all to make more room."
Photo via Arlington County
"They’re gonna lose a lot of business," said Nicole Nkemath, who was visiting Ballston. "I don’t believe that’s a great idea. Especially for restaurants, customers are gonna run away like people love convenience wherever there’s convenience, that’s where people go."
When you see a sticker that says – the Performance Price Parking Project – where you park, that means you’re participating in the study.
Small, black, circular sensor devices have been placed in 4,500 spots to collect information about how often parking spaces are being used. They will stay in position for the next two years.
Every three months, the cost of parking could go up, down, or stay the same based on the data. $5 is the highest amount the price could rise.
"I don’t think raising the price is going to take care of, say, lack of parking or such. A lot of people if they want to park here for two hours, they’re gonna pay the extra 50 cents," Johnson explained.
Arlington County hopes that by creating more short-term parking, fewer people will double-park on the street and this will prevent drivers from giving up on finding a spot and going somewhere else.
"It is annoying if you’re driving up more narrow streets and someone double parks. Even if they’re running in, we don’t know why. That’s – that’s bad, and it’s not good for traffic. I mean it throws everyone off," Johnson said.
"Time will tell what their intentions are," Nkemath. said. "If this is to limit the amount of time people spend out here, that defeats the whole point of people coming to Virginia. People come here because one – it’s safe. There’s great restaurants. There’s great malls, but upping the price of car payments, I just feel like people are just not gonna come here anymore."
Handicap spaces are excluded from this experiment. You can provide feedback about this pilot program here.