Parking meters throughout the City of San Diego will be adjusted over the next month to reflect longer operating hours, part of a larger effort to improve parking access and usage. The changes will begin as early as today within the Pacific Beach and Mid-City Community Parking Districts, where meters already exist.

Until recently, the City of San Diego’s parking meter rates and hours had not been updated in decades. These changes are part of a comprehensive effort to bring the City’s parking practices and pricing in line with most other major cities in California. The additional revenue gained by increasing the hours of parking meter operations will be reinvested in the communities where the fees were collected, helping pay for long-overdue street, sidewalk and other infrastructure improvements.

Expanding parking enforcement by two additional hours in areas with high occupancy can significantly improve parking availability and overall traffic flow. By encouraging more frequent vehicle turnover, it ensures that spaces are more accessible to businesses, residents and visitors during peak demand times, reducing the need for drivers to circle in search of parking, easing congestion and improving the overall experience.

Parking meter hours will be extended by at least two hours, and extended to Sundays within commercial areas, in four Community Parking Districts: Pacific Beach, Mid-City, Uptown and Downtown. Operating hours of Pacific Beach meters, which currently end at 8 p.m., will be extended to 10 p.m. and will be operational on Sundays as well. In the Mid-City parking district, meter hours will be extended to 8 p.m. and will also be in operation on Sundays on El Cajon Boulevard. City crews will place stickers on adjacent parking meter signs to make motorists aware of the new hours in effect.

Meter hours in Uptown and Downtown will also be extended by two hours, and extended to Sundays in commercial areas, later this month and into September. For example, meter hours that now end at 6 p.m. will be extended to 8 p.m., and some meters that end at 8 p.m. will be extended to 10 p.m. Starting hours – which in most cases is either 8 a.m. or 10 a.m. – will not be affected. Meters by the waterfront operated by the San Diego Unified Port District will not be affected.

Vehicles with a disabled placard or license plate will continue to be able to park at meters throughout the City for free.

These changes are all part of the comprehensive package of parking reforms approved by the San Diego City Council in June. The reforms are intended to improve management of on-street parking. Curb space in the City’s public right of way is a limited, valuable public resource that must be managed accordingly.

By state and local law, parking meter revenues must be reinvested to benefit parking and mobility-related needs within the meter zone where they were collected. These revenues will be critical to support improvements and ongoing maintenance of local infrastructure while freeing up less restricted General Fund resources for other uses.