Columbia City Council members vote for increased parking fees

Columbia, SC. (WOLO) — Get ready to dig a little deeper if you have to park downtown Columbia.
On Tuesday city council members voted in favor of raising the fees for parking meters from 75 cents an hour to 1.50.
and if you come out and find a ticket on your windshield…well, that is going to cost you more as well. Instead of an $8 dollar parking ticket the price is jumping to $25 dollars before late fees.

Mayor Daniel Rickenmann says the city has not been increasing rates annually, if they had he says perhaps a rate increase may not be needed right now. However, he points out that that is not the case and one of the reasons for the hike. The mayor says while he knows the change may be tough in the beginning stages, there is an upside to the increase though. According to him, in all of the other areas who have implemented higher fees there have not been an adverse effect in a reduction in the amount of people visiting areas with higher parking fees. In fact, he sites just the opposite. The mayor went on to say the spike in fees will be used to invest in the parking system downtown making it easier and better to use.

The new parking fees will go into effect March  1, 2025.