Downtown parking group seeks better usage data as city staff aim to repair parking infrastructure

The downtown parking working group told Bozeman City BID members that the group lacks reliable, historical usage data for the municipal parking garage and gate systems, complicating efforts to decide whether and where to build an additional parking structure.

Ellie and other BID representatives reported the parking group will meet to refine short-term projects (defined as 0–2 years) and examine long-term public-private partnership options. Members said staff do not have gate-record usage data from the garage and that recent technology choices and staff turnover contributed to the information gap.

John Henderson, the citys assistant city manager, told the board that removing nonfunctioning infrastructure from the citys asset list and restoring operable systems is on his work plan. Board members emphasized the need for accurate counts of when and how often the parking garage is full, peak times and seasonal variations before selecting a site for a future structure.

Possible short-term solutions under discussion include better data collection at the existing garage, pilot programs with downtown property owners to share underused private parking during peak hours, and targeted operational fixes to capture utilization data. Members noted only a few logical sites remain for any future structure and that some previously studied sites may no longer be viable due to ownership or other constraints.

The downtown parking committee will meet this week to review short-term initiatives and again in February to focus on long-term strategy; the BID expects more detailed recommendations following those meetings.