(Greenfield, MA) Following the Greenfield Downtown Parking study completed earlier this year, the Olive Street Parking Garage will be lowering their rates. Effective Friday, December 1st, it will be free to park for the first hour and then 40 cents every hour after, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday, and free outsides of those times. The goal is to increase utilization of the garage, in order to reduce demand for Main Street parking.
From the City of Greenfield:
The city of Greenfield is excited to announce changes to the Olive Street Parking Garage resulting from the 2023 Downtown Greenfield Parking Study, effective as of Friday, December 1. The changes are as follows:• The cost to park in the Olive Street Garage will be reduced to $0.40/ hour. Payment will be required 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday. Parking will now be free at all other times in the garage. Previously, the cost to park in the garage was $1.00/ hour during the day, $0.25/ hour in the evening and $0.25/hour on weekends, 7 days a week. The first hour of parking will continue to be free.• The fourth floor of the garage (roof) will now be free to park during the spring, summer and fall. The fourth floor is closed December 1, 2023 – April 1, 2024 due to winter conditions.• Payment will continue to only be accepted via the Passport parking app. The Passport app can be used citywide to pay for parking on Main Street and in municipal parking lots. Passport can be downloaded at https://www.passportparking.com/. There will no longer be an access gate upon entering the garage.• Monthly parking permits will continue to be available for $35. Permits can be used during paid parking hours (Mon-Fri 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.) to park throughout the garage. No permits or payments are required after 5:00 p.m. Permit information is available at greenfield-ma.gov.The 2023 Downtown Greenfield Parking Study found that the Olive Street Parking Garage is underutilized. The garage never reached more than 50% capacity during the study period. The study recommended reducing the cost to park in the garage as well as aligning paid parking hours with the rest of Greenfield’s downtown parking supply.The goal of these changes is to increase the utilization of the garage and thereby reduce demand on highly utilized parking spaces on Main Street. The new hourly rate of $0.40 is now lower than the $0.50/ hour it costs to park on Main Street.
The city of Greenfield is continuing to implement changes recommended by the 2023 Downtown Greenfield Parking Study and looks forward to announcing more details soon.