Park at Will on Tuesday — Meters Go Live on Wednesday

After seven months of free parking, Ocean City residents and visitors will start their seasonal search for quarters starting on Wednesday, May 1.

Parking is big business in Ocean City. The city expects to collect more than $2.4 million in parking fees from meters and city-owned lots between now and Oct. 1, when the meters go dormant again for the off-season.

This year, about 800 new meters near the beach and boardwalk will accept credit cards. In March, City Council approved an ordinance that raises fees for the convenience. The fees for the new credit-card meters change from 25 cents per 15 minutes to 25 cents per 10 minutes (or $1.50 per hour). 

But they're not available yet — the competitive contract was not awarded in time to make the new high-tech meters available by May 1. Traditional meters have been activated until the new ones arrive in a few weeks.

The new meters will be available throughout most of the streets close to the Ocean City Boardwalk, on the north-end beachfront along Beach Road and E. Atlantic Boulevard and on the far south end along Central Avenue and 59th Street. The program also will include parking lots near the Ocean City-Longport Bridge, across from Ocean City High School, and at 14th and 59th streets.

The meters will accept credit cards, debit cards or coins. For card payments, parking will be available only in half-hour increments. Four-hour or six-hour maximum parking limits will remain in effect.

Downtown parking (coins only) remains 25 cents per hour.