Traverse City extends summer parking hours, raises downtown rates

Downtown Traverse City is set to tighten parking enforcement and raise rates for the summer stretch, adding costs for downtown workers, shoppers, and nearby residents while the city tries to keep turnover moving in its busiest months.

The seasonal changes are scheduled to begin around Memorial Day weekend and run through Labor Day. During that period, metered parking and pay-station parking in surface lots will be enforced from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Saturday, two hours longer than the city’s normal 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. enforcement window. Premium spaces will rise from $1.50 to $1.75 an hour, while non-premium spaces will go from $1.25 to $1.50.

Monthly permit holders will also see higher bills. Surface permits will climb from $48 to $55 a month, Hardy Parking Structure permits from $55 to $60, and Old Town Parking Structure permits from $35 to $45. The city will offer a combined Hardy and Old Town permit for $65 a month, and bike locker rates will increase from $10 to $12.50 a month.

The price changes come as Traverse City leans harder on managed parking to handle summer demand. City parking materials say the downtown area alone has more than 3,000 vehicular parking spaces and more than 125 bicycle parking locations. The parking department says its mission includes serving downtown, NMC Campus, Munson Hospital, and residential neighborhoods, which puts seasonal policy decisions directly in the path of commuters and people trying to reach appointments, jobs, and storefronts.

The city’s parking rules already require meters to be activated from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday except holidays, so the summer schedule effectively extends enforcement by two hours on those days. Overnight parking is allowed in the garages, but not on-street downtown. The Old Town Parking Structure’s ground level is normally enforced during the same 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekday-and-Saturday window.

The broader strategy reaches beyond this summer’s rates. A revised transportation demand management plan says the city and Downtown Development Authority have already moved to monthly-only permits, separated surface and garage permits, created seasonal rates, and adopted zone-based pricing. The same plan ties parking revenue to transit and biking amenities, including support for BATA’s Bayline Route, free bus passes for downtown employees through Destination Downtown, bus shelters, bike shelters, bike fix-it stations, and bike racks.

Financial pressure is part of the backdrop. Parking is run as an enterprise fund supported by meter and permit fees, citations, and garage operations, and city parking leadership has said revenues were hit during COVID and are recovering unevenly. Repairs to parking decks reached more than $900,000 in 2023 and are projected at $1.2 million in 2026. The city also faces the possible loss of 188 parking spaces from planned projects, which would mean about $254,000 in lost annual revenue. In the city’s two main surface permit lots, there are 357 active permits for 198 spaces, an oversell rate of about 80 percent, far above the industry standard cited by the city.