Parking Streets, Sidewalks, Sewers, and Utilities Doing Business Getting Around

Paid visitor parking adds another way to travel to certain Southside blocks

Visitors to the area already are the majority who park. Starting October 17, pilot program for paid visitor parking seeks to increase availability, reduce congestion and decrease greenhouse emissions. More sustainable options are easily accessible in the area.

Haste Street parked cars in Southside Area of Berkeley

Published:

October 13, 2022

Last Updated:

October 21, 2022

You can use shared scooters, bikes, mopeds and even shared cars to travel to the southside of campus and, soon, drivers of personal cars will also be able to pay to park in certain residential blocks in this area.

The most sustainable modes of travel – bikes, electric bikes, electric scooters and shared versions of each – are also served through protected bike lanes on key corridors, Bancroft Way, Oxford Street and Fulton Street.

Driving is an option or necessity for some. This City Council-approved pilot program recognizes that many drivers already take advantage of unmetered residential blocks. They can now pay to do so.

This trial builds upon nearly a decade of Citywide implementation of demand-based pricing for parking – policies and practices that increase available parking and reduce the emissions created by the search for parking in congested areas.

Parking changes starting October 17 in Southside area

City policy is to price street parking higher than garages. The hourly rate for the nearby Telegraph Channing garage is $1/hour for up to 4 hours, with the first hour free. The maximum rate is $16 per day.

In the pilot area, visitors without residential parking permit “I” will be able to stay for up to 8 hours at a rate of $2.00/hour.

Except when football gameday requirements prohibit visitor parking, payment will be required Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 7:00 pm on the following blocks:

2700 blocks of Durant Avenue, Channing Way, and Haste Street
2300 and 2400 blocks of Piedmont Avenue

The plan is to collect data this winter, and assess the status of available parking. If parking remains hard to find, hourly rates may be adjusted during the pilot. In summer 2023, we will conduct a full evaluation of the pilot program.

We will collect data on how parking is being used in residential areas, including parking occupancy, parking duration of stay, and parking search time, to evaluate the project’s effects.

Depending on the results, the strategies being tested may be authorized to continue or discontinued. See more background on the goBerkeley SmartSpace Project Website.

Visitor parking paid by phone, kiosk

Visitors will have two ways to pay for parking:

Pay on your phone with ParkMobile app and use Zone #19800
Pay by credit/debit card or coins with “pay by plate” parking kiosks and enter license plate number

Enforcement is conducted using license plate readers, so you can continue to your destination without having to place proof of payment on your dashboard.

No changes for Residential Parking Permits or football game day restrictions

Residents who have annual or visitor permits for Residential Preferential Parking (RPP) Area I are exempt from the new paid parking and time restrictions.

There are no changes to football game day restrictions or to RPP parking outside the pilot area.

Study shows heavy visitor parking, often for long periods

This pilot program assessed parking habits, finding that visitors were the overwhelming majority of people in the southside/Telegraph area.

Cars without residential permits accounted for 88 percent of those parked in the southside/Telegraph area for less than 2 hours. Visitors accounted for 74 percent of those who parked for more than 2 hours.

The City’s parking study also assessed duration of parking. In an expanded study area that also included parts of the Elmwood neighborhood, more than half parked for more than 2 hours and 20 percent parked for more than 6 hours.

The city has expanded shared transportation devices, in part, because they are used more for travel and stored less in the public right of way.

In the Southside and elsewhere, they are the most sustainable modes of travel – especially the bikes and scooters that also have protected bike lanes in the area.

Even as these paid visitor parking options expand, consider using sustainable ways to get to and from the area.