Parking games in Redwood City

Monday’s adjustments were made largely thanks to the pandemic. It drastically reduced the number of people heading downtown, which reduced the amount of parking revenue the city took in. In the 2020-21 fiscal year, the system ran a deficit of just under $1.4 million, a deficit that had to be made up from the city’s general fund. While things are starting to improve, the deficit still won’t come close to breakeven. Since costs cannot be significantly reduced, the only alternative is to raise rates.

Fortunately, the city is not raising rates wholesale. Instead, it’s increasing the off-peak rate in the Jefferson Avenue garage to $1 per hour (peak rates — after 6 p.m. on weekdays, and all day on weekends and holidays — remain unchanged), aligning it with the existing rates at the city’s Marshall Street garage. In the non-core areas of downtown (primarily, from Marshall Street northward) meter rates for street parking are increasing to 50 cents per hour. Finally, the city is expanding the parking meter operating hours for its various downtown surface parking lots: they will now run from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. (previously, they only operated from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.). This is the change most likely to catch people unaware; hopefully the city will institute this change with a grace period, giving people warnings rather than parking tickets for some period of time.

Even with these changes, there remains plenty of available and reasonably priced parking in Redwood City’s downtown for those willing and able to seek it out. The city’s new digital parking signs may help drivers find available parking, but they don’t tell you where the cheapest spaces are located. For that, you need to know the layout of the city’s downtown, and you need to be willing to walk a few blocks.

The city’s downtown parking map, which can be found online at redwoodcity.org/about-the-city/visiting/downtown-parking#map, is the savvy parker’s helpful resource. The areas marked in magenta are the city’s most expensive, followed by the areas marked in orange. The two areas marked in green are the real prizes. For those willing to walk a bit, on evenings and on weekends both the giant county parking garage (on Middlefield Road between Bradford Street and Veterans Boulevard) and the large Caltrain parking lot along Perry Street between Broadway and Brewster Avenue are entirely free. Just be aware that during business hours they are either not available or cost money.

At any time, the Jefferson Avenue and Marshall Street garages have a 90-minute grace period. Although you must still pull a ticket to enter, you can park there for less than 90 minutes without having to pay. And if you are going to a movie, get your parking ticket validated and you’ll get a full four hours of free parking in those (as well as in the “Box” garage, at the end of Theatre Way).

Finally, I mentioned that the supply of parking spaces in downtown Redwood City is somewhat fixed, but that’s not entirely true. Starting with the “Box” garage, most of the recently constructed buildings in downtown Redwood City have agreed to make their private parking garages available to the public in the evenings and on weekends, at the same rates the city charges. Thus, you can park in the building at 601 Marshall St. (enter off Middlefield Road), or, soon, beneath the building at 855 Main St. (enter from Walnut Street). These and other downtown buildings have added thousands of new parking spaces for the general public during nonbusiness hours, which are the most in-demand for public parking in downtown Redwood City. They may or may not be the cheapest places to park, but depending upon your destination they may be the most convenient. Whether that works for you depends upon how you play the game.

Greg Wilson is the creator of Walking Redwood City, a blog inspired by his walks throughout Redwood City and adjacent communities. He can be reached at greg@walkingRedwoodCity.com. Follow Greg on Twitter @walkingRWC.