POLL: Demand Pricing Likely For Bethesda Parking Lots

[polldaddy poll="8828096"] Would cheaper parking rates encourage you to park a little bit farther from your downtown Bethesda destination? It looks like we're about to find out. A Council Committee on Friday gave its OK to a "demand parking" policy from the Montgomery County Department of Transportation. Under the new rate structure, the county could adjust parking rates on the fly in an attempt to get drivers to fill less crowded lots or garages. Al Roshdieh, acting director of MCDOT, cited the regularly-filled Bethesda Row garage (Garage 57) as the prime example of how the new rates might work. The county hopes to raise the maximum hourly parking rate at its downtown Bethesda garages to $1 from .80 cents. That $1 maximum rate could be in play often at the Bethesda Row garage, one of the county's busiest. A few blocks over at the county's brand new Capital Crescent Garage (the former Lot 31), the county could then set its hourly parking rate at 80 cents or even 60 cents in an effort to encourage longer-term parkers to park there. Roshdieh said the county isn't looking for a revenue bump from the demand parking system, but instead is trying to keep the spaces closer to downtown businesses open as often as possible for easy and quick access. "If you bring it down to 60 cents and you see the garage is filling up, then you can adjust your prices," Roshdieh told the Council's Transportation Committee on Friday. The county has been signaling its intention to install a demand parking system in downtown Bethesda for a few years. In 2013, the county moved to make all on-street meter parking $2 an hour, parking lot spaces $1.25 an hour and parking garage spaces 80 cents. At the time, the rates were $1.25 an hour for any parking space up to four hours and 80 cents an hour for any long-term parking in excess of four hours. But county officials say parking garage spaces have been found to be the least desirable, depending on the location and time of day, with empty spaces common in some Bethesda county garages (11 and 35 for instance). Meanwhile, the curbside meter spaces directly in front of business are typically in the most demand. By instituting a demand parking rate policy, Montgomery County would be following the lead of many cities. In San Francisco, which many point to as a pioneer of demand pricing, meter pricing can range from between 25 cents an hour to a maximum of $6 an hour, all depending on the amount of cars parked in a particular stretch. The city uses sensors to gauge how many parking meters are being used and will raise the rates on busy streets to try to ensure at least one space is open. Under the proposed downtown Bethesda rate structure, curbside meter spaces would remain $2 per hour. The demand policy would be put in place in county garages and county surface lots, where the maximum hourly price would be $1.25. The county would also create a garage-specific access permit priced at $150/month, instead of the $150/month parking passes it provides now that can work at any county garage regardless of demand. While Council members gave the idea their go-ahead, Councilmember Roger Berliner had concerns about why the monthly permit prices wouldn't also be adjusted. Berliner and Council staff also are concerned that if long-term parking in lower demand garages gets too cheap, some might choose to drive instead of using mass transit. That would fly in the face of the smart growth, transit-oriented policies the county has pursued over the last few decades. Councilmember Nancy Floreen, though, said the Council should give MCDOT a shot to make the demand parking system work. "I wouldn't get my panties in a bundle over exactly how the math works," Floreen said. "Let's give them a chance to prove that they can do this." If approved in the final county budget, the new demand rate structure would go into effect on July 1.