![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/large-Smart-Parking-Meter-1.jpg\")
Parking meters in Oakland. Credit: Amir Aziz\/The Oaklandside<\/p>\nParking meters in Oakland. Credit: Amir Aziz\/The Oaklandside<\/p>\n
Update, May 18: The Berkeley City Council is slated to vote Tuesday on a proposal that would extend parking meter enforcement to include Sundays and evening hours, and install meters on blocks that don\u2019t currently have them.<\/p>\n
The package of potential changes<\/a> also includes hiking the cost of parking tickets \u2014 an expired meter citation, which today costs $43, would rise to $64, while leaving your car in a street sweeping zone could land you a $73 ticket, up from $49. And the annual permits residents can buy<\/a> to be exempt from two-hour time limits in many neighborhoods would also get more expensive. Public works staff have proposed restructuring the flat $85 per vehicle fee to a graduated system where a household\u2019s first permit would cost $100, the second would be $125 and a third would be $150.<\/p>\n City officials estimate the entire slate of changes would raise $4.9 million in net revenue as Berkeley looks to close a nearly $30 million budget deficit<\/a>.<\/p>\n Original story, Jan. 29: Berkeley will soon raise hourly rates at some parking meters, and is considering charging for spots during evening hours and on Sundays.<\/p>\n Officials say those changes are needed to address a deficit in the city fund for parking meters and off-street lots that is expected to reach $2 million in the next fiscal year, driven in part by debt payments on the $40 million downtown parking garage that opened in 2018<\/a>. The City Council signed off on the parking rate hikes Tuesday night.<\/p>\n Berkeley plans to increase<\/a> its maximum hourly rate on several blocks where the demand is highest \u2014 including some in the Fourth Street shopping district, downtown and in the Southside neighborhood \u2014 from $3.50 per hour to $4. Some meters in the North Shattuck area and near Alta Bates hospital, among other areas, will go up by\u00a050 cents as well.<\/p>\n The city is also raising the floor for parking rates, from as little as 50 cents per hour to a new minimum of $1.50.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, rates at the city-owned Telegraph Channing Parking Garage will increase by $1 to $2 per hour, depending on how long you park there; meters near Memorial Stadium will get a surcharge of about 50% on Cal football gamedays; and the charge for permits in city garages will increase by $20 per month.<\/p>\n The new rates take effect March 1. Public works staff estimate they will generate an extra $660,000 per year.<\/p>\n Meters could be enforced until 8 p.m.<\/p>\n The council also gave Berkeley\u2019s Public Works Department the green light to study several ideas to squeeze more revenue out of its parking spaces.\u00a0<\/p>\n That could include extending the hours when meters are enforced from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., a time when public works staff wrote in a report that there are \u201cmany blocks\u201d where parking spaces fill past the city\u2019s target of no more than 85% occupancy. That level of demand can lead to drivers circling in search of a space and adding to traffic congestion.<\/p>\n San Francisco officials in 2023 rolled out a plan<\/a> to extend parking meter hours to 10 p.m., but dropped it in the face of opposition<\/a> from business owners and supervisors, according to the San Francisco Chronicle; the city\u2019s parking meters still operate only until 6 p.m.<\/p>\n The idea of charging for parking on Sundays in Berkeley isn\u2019t a new one \u2014 the City Council asked public works staff to study the idea more than four years ago<\/a>, though it never advanced to a final proposal. Oakland began enforcing its meters on Sundays<\/a> earlier this month, and Walnut Creek has for years.<\/p>\n Public works officials are also looking into installing meters on several blocks that don\u2019t currently have them, including at the Hopkins Street shopping district, near Fourth Street and along portions of Telegraph and San Pablo avenues.\u00a0<\/p>\n The department plans to study the potential changes by collecting data and doing public outreach, and would have to return to the City Council for final approval before they could be implemented.\u00a0<\/p>\n Budget woes extend to parking programs<\/p>\n Berkeley made more than $14 million from its parking meters and three city-owned garages in the most recent fiscal year. But city staff said operating expenses, nearly $2 million in annual debt payments for the Center Street Garage and the need to replace about 2,000 aging single-space meters and 175 pay stations will drive the parking fund deep into the red without more revenue. (Parking tickets don\u2019t contribute to the parking fund; they are paid into the city\u2019s general fund.)<\/p>\n The rate hikes and long-term changes would be enough to keep the parking fund out of deficit through the 2031 fiscal year, according to the Public Works Department.\u00a0<\/p>\n The council approved the item without discussion as part of the consent calendar at its meeting Tuesday.<\/p>\n Staff wrote that the moves to increase revenue \u201cstrengthen the city\u2019s financial position, optimize resource allocation, and support the city\u2019s commitment to fiscal responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n Alex Knox, executive director of the Telegraph Business Improvement District, complained in a public comment that the Southside neighborhood\u2019s dated parking garage would see some of the biggest price hikes under the plan.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s unfortunate that the debt service on Center Street is driving rate increases city-wide,\u201d Knox said. \u201cServices are not equitable and fair \u2014 we still have shameful conditions from long-term neglect at the Telegraph Channing Garage.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tRelated stories<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\tNo rest on Sunday: Free meter parking could end in Berkeley<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\tDecember 19, 2021Aug. 4, 2022, 10:41 a.m.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\tBerkeley\u2019s new $40M, 720-car Center Street garage opens today<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\tNovember 2, 2018Oct. 4, 2022, 1:47 a.m.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/large-Natera_230121_024_BikesonHopkins_01-1200x801.jpg\")
Berkeley will consider installing parking meters in the Hopkins Street shopping district. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside\/CatchLight<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"No](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/03_27_20_c_of_b_parks_parking-4.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"Berkeley\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Green-garage-e1541176796338.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"Berkeley](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/large-CalSailingClub_Natera_240919_27-3-1.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n