Special to the Bulletin

Visitors and Manitou Springs residents will see a change in the parking rates along the crowded Manitou Avenue corridor and in many of its parking lots starting next month after a City Council workshop Tuesday, March 29. 

The rates, known as progressive parking rates, are designed to keep at least 8 percent of Manitou’s roughly 1,000 parking spaces open at any given time, relieving congestion during the busiest summer months and bringing more business to downtown shops and restaurants.

That’s the hope, at least. 

Manitou Mobility and Parking Board members shared their plans with City Council — and if the pilot project works the way they believe it will, progressive parking could be one solution to traffic congestion. 

“I think we are on the verge of a breakthrough; we are on the cusp of an opportunity and should try it now,” said Bill Koerner, MAP board chairman. “We’ve studied for years how to resolve parking. And this has worked in other cities.” 

This is how it will work in its early stages: People parking on Manitou, Cañon and Ruxton avenues and in the Cañon, Wichita and Smischny lots will pay $2 an hour for the first two to three hours of parking.

After that, the parking rates go up by the hour. Council will set the rates at its regular meeting Tuesday, April 5, but the suggested rates go from $2 an hour to $4 an hour in the fourth hour to $10 an hour for five hours or more. 

Progressive parking rates also will apply to the 400 block of Manitou Avenue, 400 block of El Paso Boulevard, Park Avenue and the Hiawatha and Mansions lots, although rates in those areas might be lower, since they are typically less congested. 

The goal isn’t to have fewer people visit Manitou Springs, according to MAP board members. Instead, it is to have quicker turnover and less “cruising” for parking spaces. 

The bumper-to-bumper traffic on weekends and during the summer affects air quality and residents’ quality of life. Encouraging people to leave sooner frees up more parking, they said. 

It’s worked in other, much larger cities. According to researcher Donald Shoup, progressive parking rates work to ease congestion in Auckland, New Zealand, where people pay $4.50 the first two hours and $9 an hour after that. 

“Evidence from the city’s parking management trials showed that prices were more effective than time limits at managing occupancy and turnover,” the study said.

“In response, Auckland gradually removed time limits and began to charge a higher rate for parking more than two hours. … If the city’s goal is to ensure parking availability and turnover, drivers should have the incentive not to stay longer than necessary.”

City officials believe it can work in Manitou as well. 

“Parking is elastic,” said Deputy City Administrator Roy Chaney. “When rates go up in the third, fourth hour, people will make a decision to pay more or go home. And that leaves more spaces for people to use. It starts to build as time goes by. Parking is so inexpensive now, compared to other cities, that people hang out longer. And other people just drive in circles.” 

It’s also elastic because the city can look at the data, see if it’s working and make decisions to raise or lower the fees based on occupancy. Although Manitou doesn’t have the technology to do that daily or weekly, the city plans to review the data quarterly and decide based on how it worked during the previous three months. 

The original agreement was two hours at $2 an hour for only two hours in the city’s most crowded areas but councilors Julie Wolfe, Judith Chandler, Natalie Johnson and Michelle Whetherhult asked for three hours at $2 an hour. 

“What if people come to eat and then they want to shop?” Wolfe asked. “Then we are going to go from $2 an hour to $4 and then to $9? That doesn’t seem beneficial.” 

Wolfe also had issues with how the progressive parking fee structure would assist residents. 

“I don’t get it,” she said. “I’ve heard you explain it, but I still don’t get it. How does this help residents?”

MAP board member Luke Harper-Prince, assistant traffic manager at the Cog Railway, said he had the same questions when he first heard of the plan. 

“I’m new to the board and these parking issues are new to me,” he said. “So we have researched and really studied the program.

“First, there is a correlation between progressive parking rates and increased tax revenue. Second, cars circle around Manitou, looking for a place to park. If we charge them more, the longer they stay, they will leave — and it reduces that driving.”

After three hours of discussion, council directed the city administrators to implement the pilot project with a start date between May 1 and May 15. Council will discuss the pay-by-hour rates at its April 5 meeting and the penalties for going over the allotted time during its April 12 work session. Currently, people are hit with a $70 ticket for going over their allotted time.

There are options to enter cell phone and license plates at the kiosk so visitors are notified when they have 10 minutes left on the meter. They can go to any kiosk to add more time or they can use an app on their phones, Chaney said. 

“Communication on this is key,” said Mayor Pro Tem John Shada. “Can tourists — who might be brand-new to this — learn about how this is going to work? Can they put in their time and see the rates go up before they put in a credit card?

“We have a reputation for being a friendly city. I’d hate to see us poop all over that.”

Chaney agreed that the kiosks and signs around Manitou would explain fully how the system works. Technology yields the data needed to know how many parking lots are full all the time, and how often people leave. It can also let people know when their parking time is near its end and give them the option to add more time from their phones or any kiosk.