A Fare Hike for Slope Parking Meters

Parking on Park Slope’s busy commercial thoroughfares is about to get pricier – though it could also get easier.

Come May, the city will up meter prices on Fifth and Seventh avenues and Ninth Street in hopes of freeing up parking on the traffic clogged shopping streets.

The move comes after the Department of Transportation found that a pilot program that hiked prices on select Slope blocks improved the neighborhood parking situation. 

In peak hours, it will cost $1.50 per hour to park on Fifth Avenue between Dean and 15th Streets, Seventh Avenue between Lincoln Place and 15th Street and Ninth Street between Fourth and Sixth avenues. The rest of the time that meters are in effect it will cost 75 cents.

The hope is that the program, PARK Smart, will keep drivers from dillydallying, making it easier for more cars to find parking and even bringing more business to neighborhood shops.

“We think it’s a great move,” said Craig Hammerman, District Manager of Community Board 6. “Its something the community board had endorsed and worked with the DOT on. Shorter stays at parking meters mean more unique vehicles and more customers coming in and out of the commercial strip.”

The plan will be put into action after the success of a one-year pilot program that ran from April 2009 to April 2010 on key blocks of the neighborhood. In June, the Department of Transportation presented findings that revealed the pilot program had greatly improved the state of parking in Park Slope.

The program decreased parking durations by 20 percent and increased the number of unique vehicles at the curb by 18 percent, according to the study. It also stated that overall traffic in the neighborhood has been decreased by 7 percent, thanks to less vehicles circling the neighborhood in search of parking.

Some locals were thrilled that the pilot program will be made permanent.

“It will encourage people to move faster. It’s usually so hard to find parking here,” said Marty O’Brien, who was lucky to snag a spot on Seventh Avenue on his way to dine at Little Purity diner.

But not everyone was thrilled by the news. Some said the price was just too high.

“At least make parking last for two hours if you’re going to increase the rate,” said Jack Russo, owner of the beloved Italian market on Seventh Avenue. “$1.50 per hour is too high.”