The last thing people want when they travel to Denver is a parking ticket. It helps to know the parking rules before you go so you can focus on seeing the sites or taking care of business in the mile-high city without violating the parking rules and ending up with a parking ticket among your souvenirs. You must appear in person in court If you want to contest a parking ticket.
The rate for parking at meters on city streets was $1 per hour as of August 2010. Enforcement hours for metered parking spaces run Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., with a two-hour maximum time limit. In addition, you cannot park in an on-street space from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. People staying overnight at hotels should use the hotel's parking or an off-street parking lot or garage. Many lot or garage operators only charge the maximum daily rate for overnight or extended parking. People with a mobility issue, and the proper documentation, can park free in a metered space for up to four hours.
You can park up to four motorcycles in one metered space downtown. However, if you exceed the time limit, the parking enforcement officer issues tickets to each motorcycle. Municipal code allows parking scooters on sidewalks. Parking an over-sized vehicle downtown requires a permit to park at a metered on-street space or contacting a parking lot operator directly to make arrangements to park at an off-street lot.
Meter hours outside the downtown area are posted on signs on the meters. However, in general those hours are Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Enforcement of paid parking for the Cherry Creek kiosk meters runs the same days but starts an hour later, running from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Denver uses meters for single and multi-space parking spots. It is illegal to use a space without paying for the time during posted operating hours. Denver parking rules also prohibit leaving a vehicle in a parking space for longer than the two-hour time limit posted on the meter sign and the municipal code bans paying for additional time beyond the posted time limit. Denver installed 4,500 new solar-powered parking meters throughout the city in 2010 that accept coins, debit cards, Visa or MasterCard credit cards or the city pre-paid SMART cards. Older individual parking meters and meters at kiosks do not accept credit or debit cards.
Parking is free on Sundays and holidays. In addition, Denver does not charge for parking on New Years Day, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents Birthday, Cesar Chavez Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day,Veteran's Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.
