Raleigh keeps 2-hour free parking pilot through 2025 after staff briefing and public support

Raleigh City Council on Feb. 18 voted unanimously to continue a pilot that waives parking charges for the first two hours in five city-owned downtown parking decks through the end of calendar year 2025.

Transportation staff briefed the council on the pilot’s early results and recommended further study. Kenneth Ritchie, the city’s transportation planner, told council the pilot began Nov. 15 and runs in five decks Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The city has seen a roughly 28% increase in hourly transactions at the eligible decks and an average monthly revenue decline of about $23,000 during December and January, staff reported.

Councilors heard more than a half dozen public comments supporting the pilot. Joy Perez of the Poynter YMCA and Imani Cumberbatch of Marbles Kids Museum told council the free parking increased membership and attendance; Rusty Sutton, owner of the Green Monkey, said customers visit earlier and stay longer. Downtown Raleigh Alliance outreach and a city survey also showed heavy community support: staff said 95% of community respondents and 97% of storefront respondents supported making the pilot permanent.

Nut graf: Councilors balanced neighborhood and enterprise budget concerns with business and visitation data and directed staff to continue the pilot while returning with a broader, holistic analysis of fiscal and economic impacts in the fall. The council emphasized collecting a full calendar year of data and considering mitigation options for lost parking revenue.

In the briefing, staff flagged a larger FY2025 parking enterprise shortfall of about $2.7 million and modeled mitigation options. Reinstating a prior “$5 after 5” program limited to certain nights could generate about $206,000 annually; expanding that option to Thursday–Saturday would come closer to offsetting the pilot’s revenue impact. Extending paid hours yielded an estimated additional $62,000, while fee rate increases could also mitigate revenue loss but require a broader enterprise discussion.

Budget staff said the city is still calculating the pilot’s net impact on next year’s budget and will present more detailed estimates later in the budget process. Councilor Ashley Lambert Melton urged a broader evaluation that includes sales-tax gains, public-safety effects and other indirect economic benefits; several council members supported a fall work session to review the pilot’s impact on sales tax, safety and economic development.

The motion adopted directs staff to keep the pilot in effect through Dec. 31, 2025, and to return with a fuller analysis in the fall (council members discussed October or August as possible reporting windows). Staff will also explore mitigation strategies, including targeted weekend or evening pricing and possible rate adjustments across the parking enterprise.

Ending: Council members expressed continued interest in a long-term parking strategy for Raleigh and in quantifying the pilot’s broader economic benefits before making a final, permanent policy change.