The city has announced that paid parking begins Nov. 2, at $1 an hour, collected as 25 cents for every 15 minutes, in three more downtown city lots: the North F Street lot at 310 E St., the South G Street lot between Second and Third streets, and the Amtrak depot lot at 840 H St. Under the ordinance, the North F and South G lots are metered from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day except Sundays and holidays, and the Amtrak lot from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, with Saturdays, Sundays and holidays excluded. The E Street Plaza lot at 221 F St., which already had meters, stays at $1 an hour. Spaces for drivers with disabilities, motorcycles and electric vehicles are exempt. The city says the change aims to increase parking availability, encourage turnover and make it easier for customers to visit downtown businesses; the city's schedule called for a one-week educational period beginning Oct. 26, with reminder notices on vehicles in the paid lots before enforcement. This report did not independently confirm on-site operation on Nov. 2.
At the June 16 council meeting, Public Works Engineering & Transportation Director Ryan Chapman confirmed that ticketed Amtrak riders would continue to receive free parking tags for the depot lot while using the train, under an agreement between the city and the Capitol Corridor JPA that runs the service; staff said changing that practice would require renegotiation. That is a dated June statement: no retained current city or rail-operator record confirms or ends the exception for the Nov. 2 rollout, and the city's parking page, which does not mention it, could not be rechecked. The city's parking-enforcement page describes other permit programs — residential permits at $16 a year, visitor permits at $16 a year and commuter permits at $120 a year or $10 a month, valid only in designated locations, each with a $3.95 card service fee — but these are limited to qualifying residents and downtown workers, and city materials do not describe them as an alternative to paying the meter in the four lots.
The staff report accompanying the July adoption estimated the change would cover about 330 of the roughly 2,100 public parking spaces downtown — about 16% of the total. On-street parking and about half of the downtown surface lots remain free, and the first three hours in the F Street parking garage stay free.
Metering the three lots was one of the last unfinished pieces of the Downtown Parking Management Plan the council adopted in 2014 after a year of work by a council-appointed task force. On June 16, staff proposed a rate of $3 an hour — 75 cents per 15 minutes — and projected roughly $2.7 million a year at that rate. The council instead introduced an ordinance that leaves the rate to be set by resolution and directed staff to return with a $1 rate for all of the metered lots. On July 7 the council approved both the ordinance and the $1 resolution on its consent calendar; meeting captions, which carry quality flags, reflect no opposition. The ordinance took effect 60 days after adoption; the city set Nov. 2 as the start of paid parking.
Staff's June presentation listed current costs of about $1 million a year for parking enforcement, which staff said covers enforcement citywide, $20,000 a year for lot maintenance with about $200,000 in deferred maintenance, $50,000 in one-time purchases for kiosks and signs, and ongoing kiosk and payment-processing charges. At $1, staff estimated revenue of roughly $700,000. Staff said that would cover the added costs of metering the new lots but not all existing enforcement costs; earlier in the discussion, staff had suggested a rate closer to $1.50 to at least cover the cost of implementation.
The president of the Davis Downtown Business Association, a downtown restaurant owner, told the council in June that the group supported converting the lots as a parking-management tool rather than a revenue source, backed starting at $1 an hour and adjusting later, possibly with time-of-day pricing, and asked that any added revenue be visibly reinvested downtown in cleanliness, lighting and garage security. Another downtown business owner spoke against expanding paid parking. At the July 7 meeting, one speaker said they would shop in Woodland rather than pay to park, and another said meter enforcement was part of why they left Berkeley.
The council directed staff to study occupancy in the metered lots this fall, once UC Davis and the school district are in session, and to return with a recommendation on whether rates should rise and by how much — the July staff report described that report as coming in about nine months. The city council's long-range calendar posted in October now lists a downtown parking follow-up item for Feb. 16, 2027; that is a calendar listing, not a guaranteed hearing or completed study. Staff have said a demand-responsive pricing system, which the council has favored in the past, would cost significantly more and should be pursued as a capital project when money becomes available.