Portland Parking Fees Rise 20%, and Meters Must Soon Be Fed Until 10 pm

When you next drive downtown, parking will be 20% more expensive.

Across the city’s five parking districts, an hour on the street will cost 60 cents more, with downtown parking increasing to $3 an hour.

And the city is extending paid street parking hours from 7 to 10 pm. That three-hour expansion will debut one parking district at a time, but the Portland Bureau of Transportation has not released a calendar for the rollout.

The result of the fee hikes? About $4.1 million a year in additional revenue for PBOT, according to recent budget advisory committee documents.

The money wlll go to street maintenance and repair—parking and vehicle registration fees, along with proceeds from the city gas tax and allocations from the State Highway Fund, pays for the maintenance of Portland’s streets. After the recent failure of a massive transportation funding bill in the Oregon Legislature, the city says parking fees are more important than ever.

“Our potholes are filled because of parking revenue,” said PBOT spokeswoman Hannah Schafer.

The Portland City Council approved the increased rates last month to help fill a mammoth budget hole the city faced in the current fiscal year. Mayor Keith Wilson first proposed the increased rates—alongside other rate hikes for parks, rideshares and golf courses—in his May proposed budget.

According to Schafer, increasing parking fees is also critical after the bureau drained much of its reserve funding during the pandemic, when people weren’t regularly parking in paid spaces.

“Demand rising means that our city is doing well,” Schafer said. “It’s growing up and coming out of its shell again.”

Schafer reminds drivers that for all-day parking, using SmartPark public parking garages is more cost-effective and helps free up street parking spots. Outside of downtown, parking will remain free on Sundays.