Santa Monica : New Parking Meter Hours

Starting this summer, motorists will have to feed parking meters later into the night in most of the city’s commercial areas.

Parking is now free after 6 p.m. at most street parking-meter spaces. An exception is Main Street, where parking regulations are in effect until midnight. All of the city’s surface parking lots--most of them west of Main Street--are subject to time limits 24 hours a day. In the downtown parking structures along the Third Street Promenade, the hours are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The City Council on Tuesday agreed to standardize enforcement of parking meters from 8 a.m. to midnight seven days a week in the six downtown parking structures along Ocean Avenue and the downtown area bordered by Wilshire Boulevard, Lincoln Boulevard, the Santa Monica Freeway and Ocean Avenue.

Wilshire and Santa Monica boulevards east of Lincoln Boulevard also will have their parking meter hours extended to 8 a.m to midnight, except Sundays.

City traffic engineer Ron Fuchiwaki said the changes will be made gradually, with all changes expected to be completed by July 1. The increased hours are expected to generate an additional $350,000. The cost of street parking ranges from 25 cents an hour in the city parking structures to 75 cents an hour in the Main Street area.