Palo Alto staff outlines parking data plan, new systems and pricing options for downtown

The Planning and Transportation Commission heard a transportation data update on May 28 from Office of Transportation staff about parking patterns on University Avenue and downtown garages, planned technology upgrades and potential pricing changes.

Transportation staff said the city will publish more regular parking data and has contracts and equipment coming online that staff expect will improve monitoring and wayfinding. "The real takeaways I wanted to point out from the data in front of you, is that there really has been a change, but some of the basic trends in the in the University Avenue garages and lots are still the same," said Mister Baird, Office of Transportation staff. He told the commission the city will deploy automated parking guidance systems (APGS) in its four largest garages soon and is consolidating permit and citation management under a single vendor to enable better reporting.

Why it matters: commissioners said better timely data and clearer signage would reduce circling and congestion downtown and help preserve residential streets. Staff framed the technical work as preparatory to policy decisions — including possible curb pricing or mobile payment — that should be based on ongoing automated counts rather than one-off surveys.

What staff presented and planned - Point-in-time counts: Staff shared contracted midday occupancy counts (spring/fall) and said those are expensive to run and that some historical count rows need quality checks before publishing. Baird said counts have been done at several times of day in prior years but the city now relies more on targeted midday counts to balance cost and comparability. - Permit/citation vendor consolidation: The city has combined several permit- and citation-related contracts (police, Administrative Services, Office of Transportation) into a single contract to support permit sales, enforcement and data flows. - APGS rollout: Public Works will bring APGS signage/screens to the four largest garages (including Copper Webster and Bryant garages) to advertise available spaces at each level. Staff said APGS should help direct drivers to underused upper levels and advertise abundant parking away from the most desirable curbfront lots. - LPR enforcement and limits: The city has used license-plate-reader (LPR) enforcement in some resident districts since 2021; staff said LPRs saved enforcement costs but have not produced the consistent occupancy data the city had hoped to get from patrols. Staff are discussing integration options with the new vendor, the police department, Administrative Services and the City Clerk.

Policy options under consideration - Curb pricing and differentiated hourly rates: Staff discussed curb pricing (paid parking on streets) and said its view is that the city should first consider basic paid curb pricing before exploring dynamic (time-of-day) pricing. Staff noted curb pricing and duration changes could nudge drivers to use garages and lots more reliably. - Employee-permit policy levers: Commissioners pressed staff to use pricing and permit design to encourage employees to use garages instead of on-street RPP (residential permit) locations. Baird said garage/lot permits have been set lower relative to adjacent RPP permits to encourage garage use (garage/lot permits are currently priced at roughly 75% of the nearby RPP permit price, staff said). - Wayfinding and user experience: Commissioners and a public commenter urged clearer, larger, more visible signage from gateways and along approach routes, and suggested simple web/phone tools or gateway signs showing nearby garage availability to reduce circling.

Public comment and commissioner concerns - A longtime downtown parking advocate (audience comment) thanked staff for progress but urged stronger policy work: integrate private building parking into the city inventory, clarify parking assessment district powers and treat "promote commerce, but not at the expense of residential neighborhoods" as a clear policy anchor for decisions. - Commissioners repeated requests for more regular, comparable occupancy series (weekday vs. weekend), clearer breakdowns of permit vs. non‑permit stalls (including ADA/EV stalls), and better signage pointing to underused garages such as Ramona/University and Webster.

Costs and pricing details noted in the meeting - Daily permit history: staff said the daily permit has varied (previously $25, briefly $0 and $8 after 2020, later $15). Staff proposed a July increase to $20 and told the commission the fee range is now in the municipal fee schedule so the city can adjust annually. - Annual permit example: staff said University Avenue annual permits are about $900 a year; garage and lot permits have been priced relative to downtown RPPs so the relationship is preserved as fees adjust.

Data quality and next steps Staff said some count rows need correction before posting (one 2019 count row appeared artificially low, possibly due to construction) and the APGS rollout plus the new permit/vendor contract should deliver much more regular occupancy and transaction data next fiscal year. Baird offered to return more regularly with updated reporting and to work with commissioners to define the priority datasets needed to support policy choices.

Ending: Staff and commissioners agreed on priorities: publish consistent comparisonable occupancy data, pursue improved wayfinding/signage as a near-term, cost-effective action, accelerate APGS activation in the four large garages, and explore permit and pricing levers (including incentives for employees to use garages) once regular automated data are available. Baird closed: "No. I just wanted to thank you for your engagement in this topic. It is really, meaningful to me."