City of Providence and Downtown Improvement District Launch New Parking Initiative

Park Downtown Providence: a customer oriented initiative to promote convenient and affordable parking.

On October 12, the City of Providence and the Providence Downtown Improvement District (DID) announced Park Downtown Providence, a customer-oriented initiative that promotes convenient and affordable parking in the downtown district.

"Providence is a vibrant city with incredible restaurants, cultural venues, and specialty shops. Parking should not be an inconvenience for residents or visitors when exploring all that downtown has to offer," said Mayor Angel Taveras.

The city has made recent downtown parking improvements, such as the installation of signs directing drivers to parking lots, the replacement of on-street meters, and the identification of additional low-cost on-street parking spaces. For the past few years pre-paid ProvPass cards have been accepted in parking meters in addition to coins. Soon, they will be replaced by new IPS meters that accept credit cards.

"The DID has been a remarkable partner, helping the city communicate about recent and upcoming parking improvements in the downtown area," said City Parking Administrator Leo Perrotta.

Last month, the DID launched a related website, parkdowntownprovidence.com, to communicate about parking rates and locations. The site has an interactive parking map that allows people to select destinations and find parking nearby, or choose important criteria such as 'credit cards' or 'monthly parking.' It also highlights parking specials.

"Using the new website, we want to inform the public that downtown has plenty of reasonably priced parking options that are easy to find and offer top-notch customer service," said Frank LaTorre, DID Director of Public Space.

As part of this initiative, the DID is also working closely with operators of private parking lots and garages to make sure that signage, pricing and lighting are up to par.

For more information, contact Frank LaTorre at (401) 421-4450 or by email at flatorre@providencedowntown.com