{"id":2458633,"date":"2020-05-19T22:40:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-20T04:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/paid-parking-in-aspen-reinstated-june-1\/"},"modified":"2020-05-19T22:40:00","modified_gmt":"2020-05-20T04:40:00","slug":"paid-parking-in-aspen-reinstated-june-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/paid-parking-in-aspen-reinstated-june-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Paid parking in Aspen reinstated June 1"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"684\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/05\/Paidparking-atd-052020-1-1024x684.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/05\/Paidparking-atd-052020-1-1024x684.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/05\/Paidparking-atd-052020-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/05\/Paidparking-atd-052020-1-768x513.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/05\/Paidparking-atd-052020-1-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/05\/Paidparking-atd-052020-1-2048x1367.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"><\/p><figcaption><strong>Cars line the parking spots on Hunter St. in downtown Aspen on Tuesday, May 19, 2020. (Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times)<\/strong><br \/><em>Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText DropCap\">As COVID-19 <a id=\"N0x2818c70N0x298ea50:N0x2818c70N0x2a3cc28\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/with-infections-flat-health-board-endorses-plan\/\">public health orders begin<\/a> to ease and bars and restaurants are expected to partially open at the end of the month, city of Aspen officials are moving back toward normalcy when it comes to paid parking in town.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Beginning June 1, paid parking will be reinstated in the downtown core, but not at the <a id=\"N0x2818c70N0x298eb70:N0x2818c70N0x2a3cd48\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/aspen-government-to-tighten-budget-belt-in-response-to-covid-19-pandemic\/\">peak prices<\/a> charged during high season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Instead, it will be $2 an hour from 10 to 11 a.m. and 3 to 6 p.m., and $4 during peak hours of the day between 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Paid parking will be enforced Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\" readability=\"6\">\n<div class=\"row at-donation at-donation-mobile p-0\" readability=\"7\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AT-logo-white.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AT-logo-white.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\" onclick=\"handleDonationButtonClickMidArticle()\">Donate<\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Parking has been free since late March when public health orders shut down essential businesses to slow the spread of COVID-19.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">As those orders have eased and some businesses are open, the number of cars in the downtown core has dramatically increased, said Mitch Osur, the city\u2019s director of parking.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe are counting cars every day at 1 p.m. and on Friday 600 of the 682 spaces in the core were full and that\u2019s with only 20% of businesses open,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">He added that the city isn\u2019t focused on making money but rather freeing up spaces currently being used by employees so they are available for people coming to town to spend money.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWhen hotels and restaurants open we need these spaces,\u201d Osur said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Because the Aspen economy will be operating at a fraction of what a normal summer would be due to the cancellation of all major events and public health order limiting capacities at businesses, the city is phasing in its paid parking rules.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">At least for the month of June the Rio Grande parking garage will remain free, as will residential zones.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Osur said city officials in late June will re-evaluate based on traffic data and bus ridership.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe are making decisions month by month,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The number of cars coming in and out of town dropped dramatically when the first public health order came down on March 13, according to data provided by John Kruger, the city\u2019s director of transportation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Compared to the same time period in 2019, traffic levels fell as much as 80 percent.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">From March 13 to Sunday, May 17, nearly 500,000 less cars came into and out of town over the same period in 2019.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">From those dates, 947,017 vehicles traveled over the Castle Creek Bridge, where there is a counter on the roadway. In 2019 through the month of May, 1.779 million cars had come into and out of town.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The only uptick in traffic in the past two months was the week that the public health order went into effect May 9 when retail stores were allowed to open.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">On Monday, May 11 and Tuesday, May 12, there was an 11% and 70% increase, respectively, over last year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The 2019 daily average was 19,342 cars over the bridge. In 2020 thus far, it\u2019s 12,141.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Since the COVID-19 outbreak in early March in Aspen, the least amount of cars was on April 12 when 4,346 came through. Compared with the same day in 2019, 21,313 vehicles traveled in and out of town.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Osur said with the reintroduction of paid parking, the free 15-minutes feature will remain; the code for those using apps is 2514.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">And anyone who does not want to use the pay stations located on the sidewalks can use one of two payment apps, either <a id=\"N0x2818c70N0x298ebd0:N0x2818c70N0x2a3d9a8\" href=\"https:\/\/www.paybyphone.com\/\">pay by phone<\/a> or <a id=\"N0x2818c70N0x298ec30:N0x2818c70N0x2a3da38\" href=\"https:\/\/www.waytopark.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">way to park<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Osur reminded the public that the <a id=\"N0x2818c70N0x298ec90:N0x2818c70N0x2a3db58\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cityofaspen.com\/322\/Commuter-Visitor-Parking\">parking department<\/a> is on patrol.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe will continue to enforce illegal parking in residential zones and the downtown core,\u201d he said. \u201cOur No. 1 goal is safety.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Tagline\"><a href=\"mailto:csackariason@aspentimes.com\">csackariason@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/local\/paid-parking-in-aspen-reinstated-june-1\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cars line the parking spots on Hunter St. in downtown Aspen on Tuesday, May 19, 2020. (Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times)Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times As COVID-19 public health orders begin to ease and bars and restaurants are expected to partially open at the end of the month, city of Aspen officials are moving back toward normalcy [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2458633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-17 11:26:10","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2458633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2458633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2458633\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2458633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2458633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2458633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}