Hourly rates for garage and on-street parking in Scranton are set to increase modestly beginning Jan. 1, following the expansion of street-metered parking enforcement hours earlier this year.
Parking rates will rise 25 cents in 2026, with the street-metered rate paid at parking kiosks increasing from $2 per hour to $2.25 and the rate to park in city-affiliated garages increasing from $1 per hour for up to 10 hours to $1.25. Those rate increases were previously approved several years ago, but follow other parking changes approved this past summer.
A parking sign in downtown Scranton on Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRPAHER)
Scranton monetized its parking system in 2016, when it turned over operation of street spaces and garages to the nonprofit National Development Council under a long-term concession lease between the city, its parking authority and NDC’s local affiliate, Community Development Properties Scranton. NDC has since changed its name to Grow America.
Scranton City Council approved in July a legislative package to help the parking system’s outside operators restructure debt and avoid a default that officials said would have threatened the city’s creditworthiness and financial stability.
The main change for motorists and downtown businesses was a two-hour expansion of on-street parking enforcement on weekdays. Motorists previously had to pay for on-street parking between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. in areas of the city where parking is enforced to avoid the risk of a ticket. The change, which took effect Aug. 18, expanded the enforcement window from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The debt restructuring plan as originally proposed would also have expanded on-street parking enforcement to Saturdays, but that proposal prompted significant pushback from the downtown business community, residents and others. Scranton ultimately negotiated an arrangement that kept Saturday parking free in exchange for three years of $50,000 annual contributions by the city to offset the $75,000 in revenue the Saturday hours were estimated to generate.
Council approved in mid-July an ordinance reflecting the renegotiated terms of the parking refinancing. The compromise came after an earlier version of the legislation failed amid public concern about the Saturday parking enforcement proposal and other changes.
Along with the expanded weekday parking enforcement hours, another change stemming from the bond restructuring deal is the introduction of a 15-cent process fee on credit and debit card parking transactions to cover merchant processing costs. Officials said in August the fee would also apply to payments made via the Pango parking app.
The modest processing fee will take effect Jan. 1, coinciding with the previously approved hourly rate increases for on-street and garage parking.
The parking system’s city-affiliated garages include the Linden, Casey, Connell and Medallion parking garages, owned by the Scranton Parking Authority, and the Electric City and Marketplace at Steamtown parking garages, owned by businessman John Basalyga.
More information on the upcoming parking changes is available online at scrantonpaparking.com.
Monday Update
Then: Scranton’s weekday on-street parking enforcement window expanded this past summer.
Now: Hourly on-street and garage parking rates will increase slightly in 2026.