SDOT continues to evolve Capitol Hill parking hours into the night

The City of Seattle has already decided to charge people later into the night for Capitol Hill parking, but now it’s offering drivers options on how they will be charged.

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Capitol Hill parking has evolved in many ways recently as the city attempts to manage the demand in one of its most popular nightlife destinations. The city converted free parking into paid over the past few months, and now it plans to extend how long it will charge for parking while drivers visit Capitol Hill’s restaurants, concerts, clubs, and bars. In the fall of 2017, paid parking hours in the area will extend to 11 p.m. Parking is currently charged until 8 p.m.

The city decided to extend paid hours on Capitol Hill in 2016. But among a range of questions in an online survey, the city is asking for public input on how drivers prefer to be charged, giving them three options.

• Three hours max after 5 p.m.
• Flat rate after 5 p.m.
• Six hours max after 5 p.m.

Drivers can currently park for a maximum of two hours on Capitol Hill until 5 p.m. Then for longer until 8 p.m. The parking changes affect the bulk of Capitol Hill areas — along Pike and Pine Streets, Madison Street, and along Broadway to Aloha Street, and all the blocks in between.

Where SDOT plans on extending paid parking hours to 11 p.m. in the fall of 2017. (SDOT)

The theory behind Seattle’s paid parking program is to get drivers to consider parking prices and, in turn, limit their time on the street. Essentially, they want folks to move along and free up a space for someone else to park — no dilly-dallying; once you’ve had your turn on Capitol Hill, let someone else park, essentially.

Demand on Capitol Hill is high. In October, SDOT’s parking program manager Mike Estey told the city council:

We followed the data and found that there’s not some cliff that demand falls off at 5 or 6 p.m. Now, in most parts of the city we have parking extending to 8 p.m. In places like Pike, Pine, and Capitol Hill where it looks like the data continues out, we’ve started to collect more data out to 10 p.m., 11 p.m. and midnight … that’s where the data shows there is still a lot of demand, occupancy is still high, and so those are the next places we’ll go to and look and see if we have access issues.

SDOT is also aware that Capitol Hill parking is 90 percent full for “most of the day.” Plus, “most vehicles stay longer than the posted time limit.”

The extended nighttime paid parking is not the only changes to the neighborhood. SDOT also recently converted free parking into paid in parts of Capitol Hill.

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