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24 Case Study #2: Aspen, Colorado Aspen, Colorado is a rapidly growing resort community. In 1991 the city built a 340-space underground parking structure in the city center, but despite its convenient location and low price it remained half- empty most days, while motorists fought over on-street parking spaces nearby. Most spaces were occupied by locals and downtown commuters who would perform the “Ninety Minute Shuffle,” moving their cars every 90 minutes to avoid a parking ticket. In 1995 the city began charging for on-street parking using multi-space meters. Parking fees are highest in the center and decline with distance from the core. Parking is priced on nearby residential streets, but residents are allowed a limited number of passes. The city had a marketing campaign to let motorists know about the meters, including distribution of one free $20 prepaid parking meter card to each resident to help familiarize them with the system. Each motorist was allowed one free parking violation, and parking control officers provide an hour of free parking to drivers who were confused by the meters. Although some downtown workers initially protested (opponents organized a “Honk if you hate paid parking” campaign the day pricing began), pricing proved effective at reducing parking problems and six months later the program was supported by a 3-to-1 margin in the municipal election. Most downtown business people now support pricing to insure that convenient parking is available for customers, and to raise funds for city programs. Source: Victoria Transport Policy Institute – Online TDM Encyclopedia http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm72.htm On-street parking uses solar-powered multi-space ‘pay-and-display’ machines. These accept coins, tokens, prepaid smart cards, and major credit cards, and in-car meters. After receiving payment, the pay station will print a receipt which should be displayed on the driver’s side of the dashboard. The in-car meters can be pre-loaded with between 20 and 200 hours of parking time. Users turn the meter on when they arrive and off when they leave, so they are only charged for the time they are parked. Interestingly, downtown Aspen allows parking for up to four hours on-street (with the multi-space meters) and also has some 15-minute spaces on street corners (with traditional meters). The revenue contributes to providing a number of transportation alternatives including eight free transit routes, carpool permit provision and more. Source for machine information and length-of-stay limits: paraphrased from City of Aspen website http://www.aspenpitkin.com/depts/61/payoptions.cfm