Parking changes are coming to downtown Winston-Salem. Here’s what you need to know.

Featured photo: Proposed signage for downtown parking in Winston-Salem. (Photo by Gale Melcher)

Whether you’re heading to downtown Winston-Salem for work, nightlife or an event, you’ll probably spend some time rolling up and down the city’s grid-like roads scoping out a parking spot, like TCB did on Wednesday.

There weren’t any spaces available on Fourth Street, so that led to a left turn onto Poplar Street and another left turn onto Holly Avenue, which has parking on two sides of the street. 

One side has a streak of old meters that only accept quarters. 

The other has none. Free!

But that’s all about to change.

Beginning in the spring 2025, the city will start charging for all 800 of their on-street parking spots at a rate of $1.50 per hour. 

TCB’s parking space wasn’t far from the Kaleideum, where the city was holding a public meeting about their plans to revamp their parking program. A few residents filtered in and out, but overall it had a low turnout. It wasn’t announced on the city’s website — and briefly mentioned at Monday’s city council meeting by City Manager Pat Pate. One of the participants came to the meeting to complain about the new Lime electric scooters, not parking, city staff said.

Here’s what’s changing:

• The city will be using the PayByPhone application to accept payments, so no more coins. According to PayByPhone’s regional sales director Sang Hwang during the city’s Sept. 10 public works committee meeting, they’ll help the city use the parking meter “that everyone owns these days,” a smartphone. Around 85-90 percent of their transactions are conducted through their mobile app. But people who don’t have a smartphone will be able to call a number and pay via an automated process, or use the company’s website to pay.
• New parking zone signs will be posted. Parkers can type in their zone, their license plate number and pay.
• Lot and garage rates will remain $1 per hour. Charging higher rates for on-street parking is a strategy that should drive more people into the city’s decks, which are “underutilized,” Transportation Operations Manager Reid Hutchins said. Between on-street parking enforcement and deck utilization, the city is losing around $700,000 annually, City Councilmember Jeff MacIntosh and other city staff members claimed.
• They’re upgrading the equipment. Hutchins said that part of the reason they’re remodeling their system is because of the aging equipment. The deck technology is old-fashioned and deteriorating; machines spit out tickets and sometimes the gate arms malfunction. As for on-street parking, the buttons on the electronic meters can get stuck or are broken. Parking enforcers will have license plate readers, which will make enforcement more efficient. City hall’s equipment will also be replaced, MacIntosh said. When the parking attendant goes home for the day, so does the obligation to pay.
• Parking enforcement zones differ across the city. Some require payment from 8 a.m.-5 p.m., others from 8 a.m.-6 p.m. According to WSDOT’s director Jeff Fansler, whatever time is on the current signs will stay. Weekends will remain free. 

• The new signs will also be stamped with the city’s seal to delineate their spaces from private lots.
• The new parking fines will be $30 — double their current rate. City staff tout an “improved parking fine appeal process” which includes an online portal where delinquent parkers can upload their information to appeal their ticket.

What are residents saying?

Heidi Schwartz works at Foothills Brewing Company. She’s worried that the new parking fees will intimidate customers.

“It would be really great if the city would consider maybe not just jumping so far so fast,” she told TCB. 

“Modernization is great, keeping up with the times is great.” But to go from 25 cents to $1.50, that’s a big jump for businesses recovering post-pandemic, she said.

“I just don’t want the stigma around it to negatively impact the business that it drives to the city.”

Resident Dan Coughlin is concerned about illegal parking he’s noticed on some streets, as well as lack of enforcement. While it’s good that people enjoy spending time downtown, he said, vehicles should be rotating on a “regular basis because they know that the enforcement is taking place.”

What’s next?

The next and final discussion session will be held at Benton Convention Center on Monday, Sept. 23 from 5-7:30 p.m.

The new parking enforcement plan will go before the city council for approval next month.

While many Camel City residents have slammed the upcoming change in social media groups, MacIntosh said that when parking is more logical, it’s “less of an issue.”

“Simplicity is worth something,” he said. 

MacIntosh has been chasing after this change for a while, and knew he’d face a “fair amount of public scrutiny” for it. But it is “overdue,” he told TCB. 

In November last year, he said that he would “really, really like to have this in place” before he leaves office at the end of the year.

Parking enforcers will have license plate readers, which will make enforcement more efficient.
City hall’s equipment will also be replaced, MacIntosh said. When the parking attendant goes home for the day, so does the obligation to pay.

Greensboro is planning on enforcing a similar scheme to increase parking rates and remove free parking from high-demand areas like the strip along Elm Street.

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