Rapid City officials are rolling out a new parking system for the downtown area and the parking ramp. The system will include “smart meters” for street-side parking and “pay station” kiosks in the parking structure.
Sarah Hanzel is the long-range planner with the Rapid City Community Development Department.
She says the changes were in response to community requests to evaluate the specific needs of the downtown area.
“Hearing from the community about our goals and about our vision for downtown, parking emerged as a priority initiative, that the city and residents wanted to take a look at parking management,” says Hanzel.
Hanzel says this prompted a parking study evaluating downtown’s specific parking needs. She says parking shortages in certain areas, combined with demand for more convenient and up-to-date payment methods, were key factors in the decision.
“Our meters that we have downtown currently – some of them have been in place since the 1970’s. They only take coins – you know – people were just looking for those sort of smarter technologies and ability to use a credit card,” says Hanzel.
Hanzel says the meters offer a variety of options including permits for downtown employees and residents, as well as payment by smartphone app.
She says the meters still take coins and business owners can purchase parking tokens from the city to incentivize customers.
She says other changes include establishing a new parking advisory board made up of rapid city residents.
Hanzel says the transition to the new system is already underway. The new signage and parking ramp kiosks have been installed with the downtown meters scheduled over the next few weeks.