Parking is about to get more expensive in Orlando, and you’ll no longer be able to pay with coins at a traditional parking meter, beginning next month.
The city of Orlando is retiring all of its physical parking meters — there are about 1,000 total — and transitioning to a fully digital paid parking system, effective Oct. 1, 2026. The city is describing the shift as a “modernization” initiative.
Since 2015, the city has partnered with Atlanta-based ParkMobile to run its paid parking system, relying primarily on payments made directly through Parkmobile’s mobile app or by calling an associated phone number on signs placed by metered parking.
According to the city, the switch to a digital parking system is expected to help reduce “curb clutter,” reduce equipment maintenance costs, and “make parking easier while improving accessibility, curb turnover, safety and overall operations.”
Drivers will be able to pay for parking by phone call, text or in the app. Paying for parking with cash will no longer be an option.
Pay up
Modernization, however, won’t just apply to the system of paying for parking. The city is also increasing its parking rates — the last time they increased rates was in 2009 — and will be extending the hours of parking enforcement.
Effective Oct. 1, parking rates will be enforced from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., although parking will remain free at metered spots on Sundays and city-observed holidays.
Parking rates will increase from the current $1 an hour to $2 an hour for the first two hours. A third hour will cost you $3, a fourth hour will cost $4, and additional hours will increase incrementally, with a maximum parking duration of six hours.
Parking garages, on the other hand, will cost $2 an hour for the first four hours. After the fourth hour, parking will cost $3 an hour, up to a maximum daily charge of $20.
The switch to a digital parking payment system was initiated through a phased approach that began earlier this summer, starting with the SoDo neighborhood around Orlando Health and followed by parking in the South Eola area.
Orlando’s parking division, first created in 1982, is a self-funded enterprise that isn’t funded by taxpayer dollars. The division is antsy to generate more revenue to help fund technological upgrades and give the city’s aging parking garages a glow-up.
The parking division estimates they’ll need $20 million in revenue over the next five years to “accommodate moderate growth” downtown.
“As we look ahead and think about the growth of downtown, we want to be prepared to meet the growth, and so we’re looking at ways to modernize and grow the system and ensure we have the necessary revenues to do so,” said parking division manager Scott Zollars, speaking to city commissioners during a city workshop this past April.
Park for free
Visitors to Orlando can still use the code “ParkDTO” for up to two hours of free parking at a metered spot. The code can be used up to 16 times per ParkMobile account.
Are you an Orlando resident or business owner concerned about the parking changes downtown? We want to hear from you. Share your thoughts/concerns with our newsroom by emailing us at news@orlandoweekly.com.
