SP+ Metropolis reports gateless parking, city asks for data on voucher use and garage capacity

At its June 11 meeting, the Annapolis Transportation Committee heard a report from SP+ Metropolis and city transportation staff on downtown parking operations and on-demand transit planning.

The presentation, given by Marcus Moore, director of transportation and parking, and Jason Kinney, senior manager for SP+ Metropolis (Annapolis parking), said the city’s garages were converted to a gateless, license-plate recognition system about seven months ago and that the change has been "extremely well received." Kinney said early technical issues had been resolved and that residents were reporting satisfaction with the new system.

The vendors’ data covered length of stay, validations and enforcement. Kinney said grace-period stays (15 minutes) rose compared with a prior period but that illegal curbside parking around downtown — including on Colonial Avenue — has decreased. He reported that Park Place tends to show the most long-stay use, driven by multi-night hotel guests.

On validations, Kinney reported: three bed-and-breakfasts requested and received a 50% validation for guests; 41 businesses used either a $5 validation for Gotts or a $3 validation for Knighton and Park Place for employees; 68 businesses participated in the Park, Shop and Dine validation program (usable up to four times); and the city has issued 602 residential two-hour validations (a QR-based replacement for the old coupon) since the program rolled out. Kinney said the combined mystery-shop score for all facilities in the first quarter (January–March) was 98.1%.

Alderman Savage pressed staff for additional metrics before the committee’s next meeting, asking specifically for: failures-to-pay per garage, peak- and day-of-week occupancy rates, and an estimate of revenue forgone because of the two-hour residential voucher program. Moore and Kinney confirmed that validations and most parking revenue flow back to the city under the existing contract and said staff would provide more detailed numbers at the next committee meeting (the chair and staff discussed July 9 as the next opportunity).

Transportation staff also described efforts to expand and market an on‑demand microtransit service. Moore said the city recently received small (eight-passenger) cutaway buses for the ADA and on‑demand service and that the program’s target is to pick up riders within 20 minutes of a request, with typical pickups often in 10–15 minutes. Committee members suggested temporary, low-profile signage and QR codes at identified pickup locations to help riders find meeting points; Moore said staff would explore temporary and color-coded signs and revisit shelter signage and QR placements.

Moore told the committee the Transit Development Plan (TDP) had been received from the city’s transportation planners the previous Thursday and that staff would distribute the report to council members and committee members so it could be discussed at upcoming meetings. No formal vote was taken on any of the parking or transit items; staff agreed to return with the requested data and materials.

The committee said it will ask SP+ Metropolis and transportation staff to include Alderman Savage’s questions in the next presentation so the committee can review enforcement metrics, occupancy data and an estimate of revenue impacts from the residential validation program.

Less-critical details: the two-hour residential validation is offered once per day per household; businesses pay 55¢ per hour when purchasing validations for customers; Park, Shop and Dine can be used for up to four hours per visit; the program has been actively promoted at neighborhood meetings, senior centers and visitor channels, according to Moore.

The discussion closed with staff agreeing to provide a written response and data for the committee’s next meeting.