March 18, 2021
Downtown parking rates set to be adjusted the same day
The City of Lawrence is bringing enhanced convenience and efficiency to downtown parking with the introduction of mobile payments for metered parking spots. Starting Monday, March 29, downtown visitors will be able to choose between using current coin-operated parking meters or new mobile payment options.
“This is an exciting advancement in our ability to provide an excellent customer experience for visitors to downtown Lawrence,” said City Parking Supervisor Brad Harrell. “This system provides a cashless and contactless option to pay for parking, which is much more convenient for everyone. It is also more efficient and provides data that will allow us to tailor our public parking services to meet our community needs.”
City of Lawrence parking staff will implement the parking changes during the week of March 22 – 28. They will be updating meters to reflect the new downtown parking rates (more information below) and will post signs and attach meter stickers for the mobile payment options. During this implementation, parking enforcement will be limited to complaint-driven calls and public safety concerns. Enforcement will begin as usual starting Monday, March 29.
There will be two mobile payment apps available to those who park in Downtown Lawrence: Passport Parking and ParkMobile. Both options will charge users a small convenience fee for the service.
- Passport Parking: To begin a parking session from either the mobile app (available on Apple and Android devices) or parkingapp.com website, users simply create an account with their email address or phone number then enter their license plate and desired length of stay. The parking session can be extended directly from the user’s mobile device.
- ParkMobile: To begin a parking session from either the mobile app (available on Apple and Android devices) or website, users simply enter the zone number on stickers posted on the meters at each parking space. The user then selects the amount of time needed and touches the “Start Parking” button to begin the session. The parking session can be extended directly from the user’s mobile device.
ParkMobile is the mobile payments parking app currently used for parking at the University of Kansas. Anyone who already has the ParkMobile app will be able to use it for mobile payments while parking in Downtown Lawrence.
Downtown Parking Rates Adjustment
On Monday, March 29, the downtown parking rates will increase for two-hour meters, 10-hour meters and parking garages. Rates already increased for parking permits in 2021.
The previous and new rates are noted below:
- Two-hour meters will increase from $0.50/hour to $1.00/hour
- 10-hour meters will increase from $0.10/hour to $0.20/hour
- Parking garages will increase from $1.00/day to $2.00/day
More information on mobile payments and changes to parking rates is available on the City of Lawrence website: lawrenceks.org/parking
CONTACT: Brad Harrell, parking supervisor, bharrell@lawrenceks.org | (785) 832-7591