Parking in downtown San Luis Obispo will soon be easier and more affordable after the City Council voted to reduce parking rates and make other downtown parking improvements starting this summer. Review the video recording of the meeting on YouTube.

Yesterday, the City Council considered three options and unanimously chose to focus on the lowest possible parking rates, which will decrease hourly parking rates by 25% to 33% beginning July 8, 2024. However, at the same time, the City will eliminate all subsidized free parking in the parking structures to ensure that public parking services and programs are fiscally sustainable. 

“Downtown visitors who choose to stay longer to enjoy the vibrant downtown that we all love will soon save money on parking,” said Interim City Manager Whitney McDonald. “To our community: Thank you for staying engaged and patient through this process. We hear you and we are going to make downtown San Luis Obispo parking more affordable and easier to use. Some changes will happen this summer, but other improvements will take a little bit longer.”

The San Luis Obispo City Council held a public hearing on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, and weighed three options to reduce parking rates after months of community input and fiscal analysis. Ultimately, the Council voted for the option that would offer customers the lowest possible rates. The City Council also directed staff to improve the parking user experience in a variety of ways.

“We share equal enthusiasm of wanting every visitor, whether a local or tourist, to enjoy the vibrancy downtown SLO has to offer,” said Downtown SLO CEO LeBren Harris. “We deeply appreciate the backing of our community and commend the City Council for their openness to feedback. We look forward to our ongoing collaboration with the City and downtown businesses on these upcoming improvements.”

The upcoming parking changes are listed below.

• In-structure parking rates will decrease by 33% (parking rate reduced from $3/hour to $2/hour and from a maximum of $12/day to $8/day)
• On-street parking rates will decrease by 25% to 31% (downtown core parking will still be considered premium parking but rates will decrease from $4 per hour to $2.75 per hour; the outer perimeter parking rates will decrease from $3 per hour to $2.25 per hour)
• Monthly parking structure permit price will decrease by 47% (reduced from $85/month to $45/month) to encourage frequent trips to the downtown and benefit frequent downtown visitors, such as downtown employees.
• On-street parkers can stay longer: On-street parking time limits will expand from 2 hours to 3 hours in the downtown core.
• Businesses will get a better deal on parking validation. The City will reduce the price for parking validation by half, which will make it more affordable for businesses to provide customers with parking validation in the City’s structures (businesses will be able to purchase 100 validation tickets for $100 – or just $1 per hour; each ticket would provide one hour of parking).
• There will be no more free parking. To allow for the lowest possible parking rates for all users, the first hour free and free Sunday parking in the parking structures will no longer be subsidized. IMPORTANT NOTE: The free 20-minute spaces for the Post Office will remain. The parking designated for the Post Office on the first floor of the Marsh Street parking structure is NOT affected by the recent Council actions. The City has an agreement with the Post Office for those spaces to be designated for post office parking. 

Other Upcoming Changes to Improve User Experience
The City Council also voted to improve the parking user experience downtown by making some program and operational changes over the coming year, which include:

• Simplifying payment options by reducing the number of parking payment apps to just one (currently customers can use three) and by adding a pay-by-text option.
• Increasing the number of parking permits issued.
• Improving communications before, during, and after any parking service changes, and improving parking signage.
• Providing promotional discounts that would give locals an incentive to visit downtown.
• Using a consistent gated system and payment model for all parking structures.
• Allowing parking enforcement staff to give customers a grace period before issuing parking citations.

The 2024 Parking Rate Study generated a significant amount of community engagement, which included five community meetings, 11 stakeholder meetings, nearly 2,800 survey responses, booths at Farmers’ Market in the downtown, and broad communications and information provided via City communications channels, including e-notifications, slocity.org, and social media.

Parking rate studies are typically conducted every two to five years to evaluate parking operations and to address changing needs in the community.  With the 2024 Parking Rate Study, the City hired Dixon Resources Unlimited in January 2024 to evaluate how many people use parking facilities, what the current needs are, and how much money the parking funds are generating. Dixon Resources Unlimited provided three fiscally sustainable and technologically feasible options that prioritize different key takeaways from community feedback for City staff and the City Council’s consideration.

More information and resources on the parking changes will be provided at www.slocity.org/Parking in the coming weeks and months.

Media Contact: Donna King, Parking Program Manager at 805.781.7234 or by email, dking@slocity.org.