x
Breaking News
More () »

Parking Garage Fee Increase

WILKES-BARRE — There’s another fee increase for parking in Wilkes-Barre. This time the parking authority doubled the daily rate in its garages. It u...

WILKES-BARRE -- There's another fee increase for parking in Wilkes-Barre. This time the parking authority doubled the daily rate in its garages.

It used to cost about $7 to park at a deck for the day in Wilkes-Barre, but soon, it'll be $15.

Business leaders in Wilkes-Barre say more than 11,000 people come downtown every day for work so there's a need for long-term parking and now, it could cost some people more money.

"I understand they have to generate revenue, but sometimes it's unfortunate. I think they look to money from maybe some wrong areas," Dr. Alex Frederick said

The Wilkes-Barre Parking Authority just voted to double the daily rate for its parking garages to $15 for 10 hours or more.

The authority hopes the move will get more people to sign up for a monthly parking pass which costs $70.

Just last month, Wilkes-Barre doubled the cost of on-street parking making it $2 an hour.

"To make everybody pay double to park downtown might not be a terribly great thing because it might actually deter people from coming downtown. People can find products and services elsewhere."

It's a little too early to say for sure, but city officials say so far the plan to free up spots by raising money on parking meters has worked, and it's raised a 25 percent increase in parking revenue.

"Now, keep in mind it was for a partial month. The schools were not all back in yet and the fact was pretty undesirable if you will," said city administrator Ted Wampole.

The parking authority is separate from the city but nonetheless, city leaders don't believe the extra cost for parking in garages will hurt its goal of keeping meters available for short-term customers.

"You're not going to pay that rate that just doubled every single day that you're there. I mean, if you're there regularly and parking, you're going to get a monthly pass," Wampole said.

The new parking rate for parking garages in Wilkes-Barre is scheduled to take effect by the end of the month.

Before You Leave, Check This Out