John Matthews
WMAL.com

WASHINGTON — (WMAL) Someone has to pay to fix Metro. It may as well be the people who don’t use it.

The D.C. government is preparing to implement higher parking fees across the city, bringing rates to $2.30 an hour across town.

That’s a modest increase in heavy commercial areas (or “premium demand zones” in city goverment-speak), where the current rate is $2.00 an hour. But residential areas (aka “Normal Demand Zones”) are being smacked with an increase that more than doubles – up from 75 cents an hour. The increases, ordered last year by the City Council, go into effect June 1.

Between now and then, nearly 15,000 parking meters will be reprogrammed to prepare for the change, and the city’s pay-by-phone software will receive an update to reflect the new normal.

The higher rates will generate another $2 Million a year in revenue, which will be used to pay for operations at Metro.

“It is the latest case of motorists getting nickel and dimed for parking,” AAA Spokesman John Townsend told the Washington Post. “There is an acute shortage of curbside parking in the city and motorists are taking it on the chin in their quest to find a parking space…Now in two weeks, they will pay even more to park as parking meter rates jump more than 200 percent at some meters, and 15 percent at most.”

Townsend also points out that the higher parking fees follw an increase in parking fines that took effect last summer.

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