Durham adding 1,000 metered parking spots to meet downtown demand

Beginning Monday, the Bull City will debut parking meters for about 1,000 spaces located throughout the downtown area.

According to Durham Parking Management Division Administrator Thomas Leathers, the installation of the meters comes after a recommendation made in a comprehensive parking study.

​“If you’ve been downtown lately, you’ve seen just how busy it is and how scarce our on-street parking has become,” Leathers said in a statement. “Through the implementation of this new metered parking, we’re going to provide more access to downtown parking with the added convenience of having multiple ways to pay.”

The on-street parking will be a combination of single-space parking meters and multi-space pay stations that will accept credit and debit cards, cash and coins. They will also be compatible with Passport's pay-by-phone app.

The on-street hourly parking rate will be $1.50 per hour.

For visitors to Durham who need to park a little longer than an hour at a time, Leathers says four parking garages and three surface lots near downtown are good options.

“While the rate in our garages and surface lots will increase by 25 cents, to $1.25 per hour, beginning Feb. 27, there are no time constraints on these parking spaces, so this is a great option if you’re going to be downtown for a considerable amount of time," he said.

The city also announced that special event parking in the city's parking garages will increase from $3 to $5 on Feb. 27.