The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) recently released a parkDC mobile app to provide real-time parking availability and rate information for the demand-based parking pilot which began last fall in DowntownDC.
[Read more: Demand-Based Parking Pilot Begins in DowntownDC]
The parkDC app provides color-coded estimations of available on-street parking spaces on specific blocks in the Chinatown-Penn Quarter pilot area: limited (red = 0-2 spaces) to readily available (green = 5+ spaces). It provides users with real-time pricing information, which varies by block and by time of day. The app also displays the locations and hourly rates of off-street parking facilities in the area.
The parkDC app aims to reduce the time needed to find parking, improve turnover of high-demand parking spaces, provide better parking information to motorists and reduce congestion.
Beginning last October, 1,000 metered on-street parking spaces in an eight block area bounded by H Street, 3rd Street, E Street and 11th Street, were incorporated into a demand-based pricing pilot designed to improve parking availability. Individual spots were numbered and rates for those spots now vary based on parking demand. Users pay more to park during high-demand periods and less during low-demand periods in an effort to improve parking availability.
[Download the app today from iTunes or Google Play.]