The whole idea is to keep the spaces turning. There's a lot happening in our downtown.
Resident Dustin Paschal said the new downtown parking rates that went into effect Tuesday are a little high.
But what really irks him is the addition of Saturday as a parking-enforcement day.
"That is kind of awful," he said. "That's the whole purpose of having a Saturday leeway: let people come in that are new to the town experience the town and not be penalized with the huge fee."
The new parking rules extended enforcement hours to 6 p.m. from 4:30 p.m. and raised rates to $1 an hour instead of 75 cents an hour. And to Paschal's chagrin, the once-free Saturday parking now has the same enforced hours as weekdays. This is the first time parking rates have risen since 2008, when they rose to 75 cents an hour. Before then, parking rates rose to 50 cents an hour in 1988.
The changes, announced in mid-July, were made to get more people downtown, said Brent Matthews, CARTA director of parking.
"The whole idea is to keep the spaces turning," Matthews said. "There's a lot happening in our downtown."
There is a short grace period to help the public get used to the changes.
Until Oct. 1, drivers who violate these rules will just be given warning tickets, according to a release from the Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority.
The Chattanooga Parking Authority is self-sufficient, Matthews said. So the extra money raised will keep up with costs, fund the free downtown shuttle and help fund the possible building of future parking garages downtown, he said.
Before Tuesday's change, Chattanooga had some of the cheapest downtown rates for parking in the area.
Atlanta is $2 an hour, Nashville is $1.50 an hour, Memphis is $1 an hour and Knoxville is a combination of $1 and 75 cents an hour, according to a CARTA release. Only Charleston, S.C., Richmond, Va., and Athens, Ga., are still at 75 cents an hour.
Those statistics hold little sway with Paschal.
"I would feel 25 cents every 30 minutes, increments like that, that would be fine," he said. "People either live or work down the road from here, and they come here to get lunch and they park where they can."
Contact staff writer Evan Hoopfer at ehoopfer@timesfreepress.com or @EvanHoopfer on Twitter or 423-757-6731.