Revamp of parking rates, enforcement in Pittsburgh proposed

Parking rates and enforcement hours would fluctuate based on demand in Downtown Pittsburgh and a dozen other neighborhoods under legislation City Council introduced Tuesday.

Council is considering “dynamic parking” for metered street spaces at the request of Mayor Bill Peduto's office , which hopes the system will generate revenue to plug a $4 million budget hole in 2015. Targeted neighborhoods include Oakland, Shadyside, Strip District, North Side, South Side, Squirrel Hill, Uptown Brookline, Mt. Washington, Bloomfield, Garfield and East Liberty.

Hourly rates in those neighborhoods now range from $1 in East Liberty to $3 Downtown. Meters are enforced from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Dynamic rates would be set by Finance Director Paul Leger, who could also extend meter enforcement to 10 p.m., according to the legislation.

Two Carnegie Mellon University professors tested a dynamic parking system in 400 spaces around the Oakland campus and found that it triggered greater availability while generating more revenue.