NDOT outlines expanded parking enforcement, highlights bike-lane obstruction as a top priority

NDOT operations manager Emmanuel Matias presented a year-old review of Nashville’s paid parking program and enforcement approach, telling the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission that the program now covers about 2,700 on‑street spaces, has recorded roughly 2.2 million transactions and produced about $10,310,000 in revenue for the most recent fiscal year.

Matias said the program has transitioned to multi-space meters, QR-code and phone-based payments, and an electronic citation system launched in September 2024. "Since then, we've issued around 49,000 citations," he said, and added that about 41,000 of those were recorded in the electronic system (paper citations accounted for the remainder). He also described roughly 4,000,000 hours purchased through the system and an estimated 170,000 transient vehicles passing through Davidson County daily.

Why it matters: commissioners and members of the public pressed NDOT on how those enforcement tools affect cyclists and pedestrians. Matias emphasized that parking officers treat bike-lane obstruction on the same priority level as someone blocking a crosswalk or intersection. "Bike lanes are part of those safety hazards," he said, and added that obstruction citations were among the program's top violation types.

NDOT described enforcement practices and outcomes. Matias said the department increased staffing from about 11 officers at program launch to roughly 40 officers today and that citation counts have risen close to 50% year‑over‑year (a figure NDOT attributed to both more staff and greater efficiency from the electronic system). He also reported that bicycle-lane obstruction citations were 326 for the last fiscal data slice and had since increased (NDOT provided a current figure of roughly 450 during the meeting).

On approach to the public and escalation: Matias told commissioners that "ambassadorship is number 1, always." He said officers typically educate first and cite only when informal engagement fails, that the team has no quotas or incentives to maximize citations, and that officers will call MPD if a situation escalates. "Citation is something that we must do, not want to do," he said.

Data requests and next steps: commissioners requested publicly accessible maps or heat maps showing bike-lane obstruction locations. Matias said those data are accessible in the department's back-end command system and that he would look into publishing or otherwise providing them to the commission. He also said NDOT has a hub‑request manager and can provide closed/overdue/closed metrics on public reports but did not have percentage‑turnaround figures at the meeting.

Fines and revenue split: Matias explained how citation revenue is split with the state: typical parking citations carry a state fee ($44–$45.01 noted in the presentation) and an overall fine around $70; the net revenue retained by the local parking program is therefore a portion of each citation. He said fee increases that take effect January 1 will adjust that split.

Enforcement tools under consideration: NDOT said it is exploring measures to manage repeat violators ("scofflaws"), including possible towing, and evaluating devices used in other cities that prevent vehicle movement until fines are paid. Matias said the department is assessing benefits and equity concerns before adopting such measures.

What remains open: NDOT agreed to follow up with the commission on (1) publicly shareable maps of bike‑lane obstructions, (2) a breakdown of HUB request outcomes and percentages, and (3) any planned updates to residential permit pricing. Commissioners also asked the department to clarify how enforcement data inform infrastructure fixes at chronic obstruction sites.

The commission thanked NDOT for the presentation and asked staff to work on data access and follow-up reporting.