News

Jul 09, 2023

Downtown Minneapolis: What parking meter usage shows us about pandemic recovery

Minneapolis operates thousands of parking meters, most of them in high-traffic

Minneapolis operates thousands of parking meters, most of them in high-traffic areas, like the city's downtown and near the University of Minnesota's campus.

The electronic stewards of the city's parking spaces have logged millions of transactions since the beginning of 2019, and they reveal key details about how activity has changed over the years.

The past four years of city parking data reveal that citywide parking meter use, at least in the areas the city manages meters, hasn't quite bounced back to where it was during 2019. But it's getting closer, especially in some neighborhoods.

In November 2022, the time paid for at meters citywide accounted for 84% of the levels in the same month in 2019. (That's a big improvement from its pandemic lows: In April 2020 paid meter time was just one-fifth of November 2022 levels.)

Before the pandemic, Minneapolis parking meter levels were at a record high, said Dillon Fried, the city's assistant parking systems manager. Things were so busy, he said, that many downtown meters were switched from eight-hour time limits to two hours to get more turnover. (Those rules have since been largely relaxed during the pandemic.)

Neighborhoods haven't recovered equally when it comes to parking. Meter activity is closest pre-pandemic levels in the North Loop, where retail and restaurant businesses have thrived; that area was at 98% of 2019's level in November.

That's followed by the western part of Downtown, an area known for its Fortune 500 companies and their many offices (and, presumably, people traveling from their homes and elsewhere to park downtown for work). That area in November was at 94% of pre-pandemic levels.

Downtown East, though, is a different story. The area, which has U.S. Bank Stadium and many residential buildings, as well as some office spaces, is still about a quarter less busy than it was in November 2019 in terms of parking meter usage. Similar trends exist for Uptown and the Loring Park area.

Fried said parking meter usage during the business day doesn't show much seasonal variation, but nights and weekends see increased activity during the summer and fall, when baseball and football games bring fans, and their cars, downtown.

Fried said he's optimistic that parking meter usage will soon recover to pre-pandemic levels.

"Our on-street parking demand has come back much more strongly than off-street," he said. "Business days are still slower than pre-pandemic, but they're still over pre-pandemic for retail and restaurants corridors."

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