New Downtown Parking Rates Go into Effect Today

City residents and visitors will notice some big changes when they park downtown beginning today.

After enjoying nearly four weeks of free holiday parking, the city's new tiered parking rates go into effect on Thursday, and drivers will have to make sure they are purchasing the right color parking ticket for the corresponding zone.

Motorists will notice that in the city's highest demand downtown streets that lead to and from Market Square, the parking machines and meters will display Zone A red stickers, which means that they can park in those spaces for up to three hours at $1.50 per hour.

In other parts of the downtown, motorists will see Zone B blue stickers on parking machines and meters, which means they can park in those spaces for up to three hours for $1 per hour. In downtown areas that are located further away from Market Square, they will see Zone C green stickers on parking machines and meters, which will allow them to park for up to four hours at $1 per hour. 

The city parking department has also created a new web site parkportsmouth.com that provides people with a detailed downtown parking map and all of the pertinent information they need about the new tiered parking rates. The web site also includes a Twitter account where downtown visitors can find updates on parking garage availability status and snow ban announcements, information on COAST bus and trolley schedules, a local events calendar and other information.

Motorists can also scan a special QR code on the parking machines with their smart phones to access the new parking web site.

Other key changes that will go into effect is that city residents and visitors can park in the High Hanover Parking Garage for free for the first hour, seven days a week, and pay 75 cents for subsequent hours. The new parking ordinance also gives city residents free all-day parking on Sundays if they furnish a driver's license showing their Portsmouth address. Parking fines will also go up from $10 to $15 for violations, which include parking in metered spaces for longer than the designated time limit.

For the past three weeks, the city's parking department has launched an extensive public outreach campaign to make sure city residents and visitors understand the parking changes before they took effect on Thursday.

On Wednesday, city parking employees distributed cards to several downtown businesses that summarize the key parking changes. They want motorists to also know that if they purchase a parking ticket in a blue sticker zone, they cannot use it in a high occupancy metered zone where a red parking ticket is required because of the 50-cent per hour cost difference.