No more free parking in downtown Fort Myers

Reporter: Annalise Iraola
Published: Updated:
parking ticket
New parking meters in downtown Fort Myers. CREDIT: WINK News

The City of Fort Myers wants you to know about 32 new pay stations and the changes to the times you’ll have to pay for parking on Wednesday.

A city representative told WINK News it didn’t enter the decision lightly. The city hired a parking consulting firm to do a parking study of the area and market analysis of other municipalities’ parking systems in Florida.

After acquiring that data, new automated parking systems are the next step toward improving downtown parking.

“So the biggest change is that now the two hours of zone is to our paid parking $1.50,” said Peter Sherwill, a Denison parking manager.

You may have noticed the new automated downtown parking stations throughout the city.

“I don’t know if the ticketing business is going to hurt or hinder. Like I said, I’ve seen a lot of empty parking spaces where before they were taken, so it remains to be seen,” said Fort Myers resident Mike Balogh.

The City of Fort Myers has partnered with Flowbird for the new parking stations.

“There’s 32 of them. Some of them are nicely and brightly colored,” said Sherwill.

Pay stations will accept coins, but now they will also accept credit cards. All it takes is knowing your license plate number to park.

“Until Monday, we are issuing warnings only. Nobody’s actually getting a ticket if they don’t make a payment,” said Sherwill.

But not everyone is clear on the rules, as Balogh explained his understanding of the system.

“Confused, confusion because, like, it’s a ticket, but it’s not a ticket. It’s a warning for nothing,” said Balogh.

Rates vary from 50 cents to $1.50 during peak hours. At the end of the day, the city hopes the new parking makes it smoother for residents and invites them to stay longer in the downtown area.

“It’s really designed to make it more convenient for people to come to downtown and be able to go to the great places,” said Sherwill.

It’s worth noting the new hours of enforcement are 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., from Monday to Saturday, and parking fees won’t be enforced on Sundays.

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