New downtown Amarillo parking system officially in effect

AMARILLO, TX (KFDA) - The ParkMobile App is making it easier and faster for visitors in downtown Amarillo to pay for parking--- and the app itself is designed to be even easier to use.

After downloading it on your device, the app asks you to create an account providing a payment method and up to five vehicle license plates per account.

After signing up, you’ll see a map of the parking zones available downtown, each zone with it’s own 4-digit code.

“When you come downtown, anywhere on any block face you’re on there’s going to be a sign that has a code and that’s the code you’re going to enter when you choose where you’re parking,” said Amarillo City Manager Jared Miller. “That will register you to park on that block face for the amount of time you selected.”

The parking fee is $1 per hour and you can extend your parking time before it ends.

“Right now our limit is three hours,” said Miller. “However, if we have an event at the Civic Center or at one of our other venues, we can modify the parking for the entire paid parking area to be at least for the duration of that event.”

The Amarillo Police Department will be in charge of parking citations as their license plate readers are now connected to the ParkMobile App.

“As they’re driving down the street, it immediately knows which vehicles paid to park and which ones have not,” said Miller. “So they’ll be able to issue a ticket or a warning immediately as they’re driving down the street. They’ll also be able to track how long a car has been parked in a parking area.”

However the City of Amarillo said not to worry. During the first 90 days of the new system, they won’t be handing out tickets.

“For three full months, we’re going to just issue warnings and also educational information on how to sign up for the app, how to log on and we’ll include frequently asked questions with that,” said Miller.

Miller said this new system for downtown parking will contribute not only to downtown maintenance, but meeting parking needs as they arise.

“This revenue source, one, it’s going to pay for striping and maintenance and management of the area, but it’s also going to create a reserve fund that’s going to enable us to create additional surface parking lots as parking demand increases,” he said. “And as some of those lots develop into buildings and our parking supply goes down, it will create the opportunity or the resources for us to build structured parking on some of our surface parking lots.”

You can also pay for downtown parking through an automated phone system by calling 1-877-727-5953 or visit parkmobile.com.

A public meeting regarding downtown paid parking and the use of the ParkMobile App will be held Thursday, Mar. 7 at 6 p.m. at the Amarillo Downtown Library.

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