Parking On NYC Streets About To Get More Expensive

NEW YORK, NY — Time to start hoarding quarters — New York City plans to hike parking meter rates for the first time in five years starting next month, the Department of Transportation announced Thursday.

The previously planned increases for both passenger and commercial parking prices will start in Brooklyn on Sept. 4, then hit Manhattan in October, Queens in November and Staten Island and the Bronx in December, the department said.

The new rates will vary by location, but they'll jump most sharply in congested Midtown and Lower Manhattan.

Prices for passenger cars in those "core" areas of Manhattan will rise from $3.50 per hour to $4.50 for the first hour and $7.50 for the second, the DOT said. Commercial rates will increase $2 across the board, starting at $6 for the first hour.

Drivers in "core" parts of the outer boroughs, such as Downtown Brooklyn, Flushing and Jamaica, will see the current rate double to $2 an hour, the DOT said.

Prices will increase from $1 to $1.50 in other "neighborhood corridors" and to $1.25 in the rest of the outer boroughs, officials said.

The first rate changes since 2013, which the DOT first disclosed to elected officials in April, bring New York more in line with other similar cities, the department said. The DOT argues meters provide for efficient deliveries and help customers access local stores.

You can use the DOT's online parking rate map to see how the hikes will impact your neighborhood.

(Lead image: Photo by Environmental Images / Universal Images Group/Shutterstock)