Parking Your Way program to start in July in downtown Riverside

A downtown Riverside parking program this summer will provide drivers with as much as 90 minutes of free parking per day at curbside metered spaces, public parking lots or public parking garages, the city announced Tuesday

Parking Your Way, which goes into effect July 1, was approved by the City Council April 18. The program will utilize the Park Riverside app, allowing users to manage their parking experience with their smart phone “by mixing and matching free 30-minute parking in an on-street metered space and free 60-minute parking in a public parking lot or public parking garage,” according to the city.

Those who do not want to use the city’s parking app will still be able to pay for parking with cash or a debit/credit card by interacting with parking garage attendants or using on-street parking kiosks that will remain in place.

“Parking Your Way mixes the latest innovations in technology with a traditional commitment to customer service,” Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson said in a statement. “These changes will make parking downtown easier for everyone, regardless of how you choose to access the new system.”

With its goal of making a visit to downtown Riverside “more affordable, more accessible and more convenient,” the app enables users to automatically receive free parking, pay for parking, extend parking, validate parking and prepay event parking, officials said.

The City Council’s approval came after the Parking Services Division did public surveys, hosted community meetings and met with downtown stakeholders over nine months to gauge public expectations for the downtown parking program.

According to the city, “The result was a complete rebuild and refocusing of the downtown parking program, with three goals:

“Stabilize the Public Parking Fund so it’s fiscally sustainable to support the downtown parking operation and support future parking needs.

“Align the parking programs with the expectations of the downtown community and encourage more people to come downtown.

“Provide quality-of-life services in the garages by improving public safety and security, increasing facility cleanliness, and addressing deferred maintenance,” officials said.

“Our City took the time to engage the community, listen to everyone’s concerns, and present a program that meets their needs,” Mayor Pro Tem Clarissa Cervantes said in a statement. “These rates ensure that our working community and small businesses in downtown won’t be negatively impacted.”

Many of the parking programs that Riverside currently offers — such as Downtown 24/7 permits and the Discounted Employee Permit Program — will rely significantly “on the new, real-time, self-service parking systems being installed in the public parking garages,” according to the city’s announcement. Service kiosks at vehicle entrance and exit lanes as well as at pedestrian access points will scan a vehicle’s front license plate and if an account has been established, the system will automatically raise the entrance and exit arms allowing for swifter entry and exiting.

Information on Parking Your Way, Downtown 24/7 permits and the DEPP will be posted on a number of platforms citywide — the city of Riverside’s website, social media and the electronic message sign adjacent to Highway 91 near the Auto Center, officials said. Additionally, downtown Riverside will get changeable message signs posted along three thoroughfares, and informational signs will be placed at pay stations, public parking lots and garages.

Information also will be channeled through the Riverside Downtown Partnership, Greater Riverside Chambers of Commerce, Riverside Neighborhood Partnership and other local organizations.

Officials said that in order to stabilize the public parking fund, some fee rates are changing. For detailed information about the new rates, a video on how Parking Your Way will work and to sign up for notification of when the Park Riverside app is available for download, visit www.riversideca.gov/publicworks/content/downtown-parking.

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