Overview
In October 2023, the City of Cleveland began updating on-street parking services to better provide convenient and available street parking. This process includes technology upgrades, changes to parking rules and regulations, and expanding metered zones.
The City of Cleveland is working with ParkMobile and Flowbird to provide new tools and technologies to manage and expand metered on-street parking. ParkMobile provides a mobile application, website, and phone service to pay for parking sessions, and is a significant upgrade from the coin-only meters currently available. Flowbird is the provider of pay stations located Downtown where users can pay for parking sessions without using a mobile application.
These tools will also allow the City to eventually roll out additional features, such as managing parking sessions through the mobile app, progressive parking rates, and demand-responsive pricing.
Street Parking Update Goals
The goal of the street parking program is to provide convenient and available street parking. In areas with high demand, charging for the time spent parked on the curb is essential to encourage turnover and ensure there are available, convenient parking spaces in areas with street parking.
Expanding meter zones to new areas allows the city to update where we want street parking to be convenient and available as neighborhoods redevelop and new businesses open. Expanded zones are intended for commercial/mixed-use areas currently without coin-operated meters and with measurable or observable demand for street parking.
ParkMobile
The City of Cleveland is partnering with ParkMobile to launch a digital parking solution to revolutionize the parking experience for both residents and guests.
The City will eventually phase out approximately 2,500 coin-based parking meters, which will transition into the uniform ParkMobile app-based parking system to modernize operations and improve efficiency and enforcement.
Through the ParkMobile system, users can digitally pay for parking by entering the zone number posted on nearby signs directly into the ParkMobile app or their mobile web browser. Non-smartphone users can also utilize ParkMobile by calling an interactive voice response service.
Multi-space Flowbird Pay Stations
The City of Cleveland is installing new, state of the art, on-street parking pay stations throughout the Central Business District to improve the overall parking experience for residents and visitors in downtown Cleveland. Single space coin only meters will be removed and replaced with Flowbird pay stations. Also known as a multi-space meters, these units are solar powered devices used to manage multiple parking spaces.
The pay stations feature a touch screen solar powered display which provides instructions in four (4) languages: English, Spanish, French, and Mandarin. The pay station includes a pay-by-plate platform which accepts credit cards and coins.
Parkers may pay for parking at any pay station, as long as the customer enters the license plate number of the parked vehicle and the zone number for the location where they parked.
Expanding Metered Zones
The City’s priority is to upgrade existing physical coin-operated meters (and in some cases, existing pay stations) to ParkMobile and Flowbird pay stations (currently Downtown only). However, given recent growth and development in certain areas of the city, there is the need and opportunity to expand metered parking zones to provide convenient and available on-street parking. In some neighborhoods, metered zones will be expanded or added as the City upgrades the parking meter system.
Parking Rules and Regulations
Under these updates, the hours and rates for on-street parking will not change at this time. However, legislation passed in September 2023 allows future adjustment of paid parking hours from the current 7:00 am - 6:00 pm to 7:00 am – 10:00 pm. Parking fees may also be adjusted in the future based on usage and demand for on-street parking spaces.
Current Implementation – Ohio City
The City’s parking meter update in Downtown Cleveland is complete. The next location to receive the update is the Ohio City neighborhood. The Ohio City parking meter update will occur in three phases:
- Phase One involves updating streets currently equipped with coin-operated meters to also accept payment for street parking via ParkMobile. This includes Lorain Avenue and West 25th Street. The City anticipates implementing this phase over approximately 4 weeks, beginning the week of August 19, 2024. These areas are identified in green in the map below.
Phase Two involves requiring payment for street parking in select commercial areas that are currently signed for time-limited parking sessions, but are not equipped with coin-operated meters. This includes extended portions of Lorain Avenue and West 25th Street as well as other areas identified in red on the map below.
Phase Two implementation will follow the completion of Phase One and is anticipated to take 2 to 3 weeks. Enforcement will involve a minimum 2-week grace period where warnings will be issued for parking violations prior to monetary fines.
Phase Three involves implementing new metered zones on streets with a mix of uses that are adjacent to heavily-visited commercial areas. Many streets in urban neighborhoods like Ohio City have residential uses mixed in with small retail businesses and restaurants, or streets adjacent to commercial areas with parks or other public spaces. These areas are identified in blue in the map below.
Phase Three implementation will follow the completion of Phase Two and is anticipated to take 2 to 3 weeks. Prior to implementation, the City is collecting comments and feedback on planned Phase Three locations here. Enforcement will involve a minimum 2-week grace period where warnings will be issued for parking violations prior to monetary fines.
