Ever wondered what to do when parking before the posted enforcement hours? Are you worried about overpaying if you pay too early? Worried you may have to return to the meter to pay?
Good news, all meters in the LA Express Park project area are programmed to allow you to pay in advance, if applicable!
Prepay is the ability to pay the parking meter in advance of enforcement hours and the payment be applied only towards the enforcement period of your parking session.
Prepay is not an option if the space has “No Parking” restrictions directly preceding enforcement hours.
“No Parking” restrictions include morning peak hour restrictions (i.e. “Tow Away No Stopping 7AM-9AM Mon-Fri”), Street Cleaning restrictions, Passenger Loading only, and others. The meter will not allow you to pay for parking with a card or by app if there is a current “No Parking” restriction.
Please Note: Prepay requires your car be parked in the space at the time of payment. Prepay is not a way to reserve a space. There is no procedure in place to reserve on-street parking spaces at this time.
Example Scenario
The on-street sign states that parking enforcement begins at 8am. You arrive at 7am and would like to park until 9am. If parking is not restricted during the parking session, a payment for 1 hour of parking at 7am will result in a paid meter from 8am-9am.
Prepay is not an option at a space with “No Parking” restrictions preceding enforcement hours.
If no other restrictions are posted, prepay is an option at this space.
How to Prepay for Parking
Always check posted signs for all currently enforceable parking restrictions. Ensure no restrictions precede or interrupt your intended parking session.
Determine how long your parking session will be. Decide on time beginning from enforcement hours and within the posted time limit.
Pay for the intended length of time and the meter will apply the payment towards a parking session beginning at the posted enforcement hours.
Meter Example
The meter will flip between the above two screens showing the day’s rates, the current time, and when the next enforcement period will begin. “Pay in Advance” is displayed on the top banner only if prepay is an option at this parking space.
There is no need to wait until 8am to make the payment if the space is free of “No Parking” restrictions during the parking session. Paying prior to enforcement at this meter will result in the payment being applied towards the upcoming enforcement time at the upcoming rate.
For the particular meter shown above, the upcoming rate is $2 per hour between 8am-11am. At 7am, a payment of $1 will earn 30 minutes of parking time during enforcement hours.
“Total Time” will list the total time applied to the meter from the current time including any time before enforcement hours.
“Expires” will list the time the parking session will expire during enforcement hours. This will not include any time before enforcement hours.
LA Express Park™, the City of Los Angeles’ intelligent parking management program, is updating the hourly meter rates in Hollywood to improve the parking availability and reduce congestion in the neighborhood.
On average, the rates will go down in the morning and will go up for the rest of the day. The current average overall hourly rate in Hollywood area is $1.62 per hour. With the rate change, this will increase by $0.23 to $1.85 per hour. For the morning, the average rate is expected to decrease from $1.33 to $1.14 per hour. For the rest of the day, the average rate will increase from $1.69 to $2.03 per hour. These new rates will go into effect on August 12, 2019.
Please pay attention to the parking signs on the block where you will be parking as the end of enforcement hours on Friday and Saturday in Hollywood extends to midnight on some of the meters.
Here in Hollywood, you can also pay for parking using an app on your phone! For multi-space pay stations (meters where you have to enter your space number), you can use ParkMobile to pay. For single-space meters, you can use ParkSmarter.
Parking meters with time-of-day rates have different hourly rates matching the parking demand during each time interval. All parking meter and pay station screens will display the current rate and the maximum time allowed for parking for every meter space depending on the time-of-day. Meters and pay stations will be equipped to calculate the applicable rates for you if your parking period spans different rate periods.
Also remember that LA Express Park expanded to the Venice neighborhood on July 22nd. More information can be found by clicking here.
Have fun and enjoy your time here in this world-famous neighborhood!
