SCRANTON -- Visitors to the Marketplace at Steamtown in Scranton have some more time to park there for free.
Managers for the Marketplace at Steamtown and the company that manages its parking garage, ABM Parking Services, said earlier this year that visitors would have start paying to park come fall. Now that fall is here, officials tell Newswatch 16 that their plan for paid parking in pushed back.
ABM Parking Services is preparing to roll out paid parking.
It was meant to crack down on people who park in garage for free, but never step foot in the marketplace. A sign greeting visitors says parking will be free for the first two hours. But, people who do make it inside think it will affect them as well.
"What if I just need to come to the doctors and I`m not here to shop? Then what? I`m paying just to park there?" asked Eleanor Jones of Scranton.
Jones will soon visit her doctor at the Marketplace. Delta Medix medical practice is preparing to open up in the old Bon-Ton. It's just one of several untraditional tenants. People can also go to school, work out, or visit a library in the former mall.
Things that could keep visitors at the Marketplace for longer than two hours.
ABM Parking Services has installed new equipment in the garages and through the Marketplace and it is ready to go, what is not ready is a plan on how to implement the parking fees.
"I feel like if you`re coming here not for retail or shopping, I feel like you should be able to show your gym membership or student ID at the kiosk down there, and maybe that would keep you away from having to pay the toll?" said Josh Polk of Spring Brook Township.
Polk works out at Crunch Fitness six days a week.
Employees at Crunch told Newswatch 16 that members have already began to cancel their memberships anticipating that the paid parking will be too much of a hassle.
Marketplace managers tell Newswatch 16 the paid parking is on hold until they can come up with a plan that works best for the people who visit the marketplace, no matter their purpose.
An ABM Parking Services sign inside the Marketplace garage says a parking validation system will begin January 1st. Managers at the Marketplace said they are not sure of an official start date for paid parking.