A user-friendly parking option is on the horizon for Detroit.
Detroit’s Municipal Parking Department Director Keith Hutchings said his department will launch a “Text-to-Pay” meter service in the coming months. The service, he said, will provide another option on top of the existing ParkDetroit app, which for some can be a challenge to navigate.
“We’re going to make it so it’s absolutely impossible not to have a way to pay,” Hutchings told Detroit City Council members during MPD’s March budget hearing.
The amenity is among the parking improvements that Hutchings teased during the hearing, including plans to expand residential parking zones and a merchant rewards program.
Hutchings said that the ParkDetroit app will soon expand for multi-modal trip planning.
The service will start out with offering options for travelers using their vehicle, Uber, Lyft, People Mover or QLine. Users will enter the location they plan to visit and the app will list a number of ways to get there, how long it’ll take and the cost. It’s mainly designed for navigating near the city’s arenas, he said.
DDOT does not have a line that connects well with the arena district, but the intention is to expand later to DDOT, SMART, MoGo and other lines like the D2A2 and Ann Arbor Transit and others.
Council Member Mary Waters asked Hutchings during the meeting what the department is doing to educate residents about the 50% discount program for parking tickets. Many Detroiters aren’t aware that they are required to sign up for it on the front end.
The parking ticket discount program began in 2019 with the goal of helping low-income families visit downtown Detroit to access city offices, meetings and services without the fear of racking up expensive fines.
Before Detroit filed for bankruptcy, parking tickets were $20 and anyone cited could get a $10 discount if the fines were paid within 10 days. That discount was eliminated and fines were increased to $45 in 2014 under the direction of former Emergency Manager, Kevyn Orr.
The resident discount program was created through an ordinance amendment co-sponsored by Sheffield, then serving as City Council president.
To qualify, residents have to have vehicles registered in the city, a requirement requested by MPD to ensure those who opt into the program are actual Detroit residents.
The requirement, for some, highlights Detroiters’ long-running frustrations about unaffordable auto insurance rates that have prompted some to register vehicles in communities outside the city limits or to forgo insurance altogether.
With the discount, residents with tickets for expired meters or “no parking” violations will pay $22.50.
Hutchings said that the department has thought about the most effective way to make sure all citizens are aware of the discount and told Waters that MPD has partnered with the city’s Water and Sewerage Department to have the instructions listed on water bills, directing people to the website to apply.
“That is, we think, the most efficient way to touch everybody,” he said.
