SEATTLE — The city of Seattle will collect a few more millions from drivers in 2025, by charging steeper fines for parking tickets.

Besides seeking additional revenue, city officials assert that previous fines were so low that people felt free to ignore some parking rules.

The typical $47 citation for most violations, such as parking longer than signs allow, or parking in peak-hour transit lanes, rises to $69 starting Jan. 1, while the $44 fine for not paying at a meter becomes $65, according to Seattle Municipal Court.

People who feel parking pain will have plenty of company: From January to mid-December 2024, civilian parking enforcement officers wrote 340,191 citations, according to the Seattle Police Department.

The court's announcement noted the nearly 50% price increase is the city's first since 2011 and will "account for inflation." For example, a ticket costing $44 ticket for parking overtime would be equivalent to paying $66 today, said a City Council staff report.

The council unanimously approved higher fines Nov. 21, buried within the voluminous 2025 budget.

In justifying the hefty increase, the Seattle Department of Transportation concluded that penalty levels in recent years led to "parker behavior that disregards payment and parking rules," especially around sports stadiums and South Lake Union. It also notes Seattle has the nation's third-highest median income ($116,000), increased transit alternatives, and rising private parking rates of $24 to $30 per day in busy blocks.

"Both neighborhoods are examples in which people appear willing to risk getting a citation when the fine amount is less or similar to private parking rates," said SDOT spokesperson Ethan Bergerson.

Seattle has a long and lucrative tradition of vigorous parking enforcement, notwithstanding its relatively small Police Department.

Higher fines should add $4.9 million to the city's 2025 general fund, the budget predicts. The new penalty levels were set by Municipal Court judges, as authorized by state law, a budget summary says.

City collections from parking fines are forecast to reach $23.8 million this year. That's in addition to $37.3 million in anticipated parking meter payments that go directly to SDOT, and $54 million in SDOT parking taxes on private lots. (SDOT spends $18 million to manage parking and curb space.)

The hourly price to park at any of Seattle's 11,000 metered street spaces changes three times per year based on how busy they are. Afternoon rates currently range from $1 in the downtown financial district, the fringes of the University District and outer blocks of South Lake Union, to $6 at the popular central waterfront, in Fremont and in Denny Triangle near the Amazon Spheres.

That "performance-based parking" policy, established in 2010, raises or lowers curbside prices (and maximum hours you can park) to encourage occupancy between 70% and 85%, or one or two open spaces per block — translating to busy drive-up activity but not filled.

The city canceled 200,000 parking tickets issued between Sept. 1, 2021, and April 5, 2022, and lost $10 million in revenue based on technicalities between city departments. This episode ended a short-lived attempt to shift parking enforcement authority from the Police Department to SDOT, so that the City Council would appear on paper to be defunding police, in response to social-justice protests.

Seattle's most common parking tickets

Seattle parking officers issue on average nearly 1,000 daily citations, the most frequent type being non-payment or underpayment at curbside parking meters, based on 2024 data through Dec. 19.

Note: "Other" citations include parking in commercial or passenger loading zones, within 30 feet of a stop sign, for more than 72 hours or in a crosswalk. City code lists 119 possible violations. Source: Seattle Police Department (Fiona Martin / The Seattle Times)

Seattle Municipal Court says the new amounts are in line with other cities. Chicago charges $100 for some kinds of violations, while Portland charges $65 for failing to pay at a meter, and $95 for parking during forbidden hours, such as afternoon peaks. Boston issues citations of $90 for parking in a no-parking zone, and $100 for parking in a bike lane, but only $40 for overstaying at a paid meter.

SDOT found in an October 2023 spot-check that most drivers underpaid or didn't pay at South Lake Union parking meters, and similar trends appeared in Columbia City and Pike-Pine, said Bergerson.

Around the stadiums, a $47 ticket seemed like a bargain to event fans, compared with off-street lots costing $15 to $50 or much higher, Bergerson said. When the curbsides fill for several hours in the adjacent Chinatown International District, that frustrates city efforts to provide a "strong emphasis on customer access for businesses," he said.

Some violations cost more than the basic $69. Citations are $250 for parking in a disabled-user space without a valid placard, and $250 for fraudulently selling or using a residential-permit zone tag. Parking in a loading zone anywhere will risk a $78 ticket. And the fine for parking curbside in the Montlake neighborhood on Husky football days is rising from $53 to $78.

In a study of Seattle parking citations issued in 2023, drivers paid 63%, while 33% went unpaid, and only 4% were dismissed, lowered by the court, or canceled, according to Mayor Bruce Harrell's staff.

The City Council's social-justice analysis found more than half of citations to drivers from low-income neighborhoods go unpaid, suggesting higher fines will "increase the burden for those who do not have the ability to pay."

On the other hand, Municipal Court provides options to dispute a parking ticket, or to seek aid such as monthly installments to pay off multiple penalties, a discount for very low-income drivers, or community service instead of paying cash.

Busy parking enforcement

Seattle currently employs 89 parking enforcement officers out of 104 approved positions, a shortage that Wayne McCann, the unit's operations director, blames on a tight labor market.

Failure to pay at meters is by far the most commonly cited offense, at 107,736 tickets in the first 11 1/2 months of 2024, followed by no-parking zone violations, and license violations such as expired tabs or missing plates.

The University District generates more than its share of parking tickets per block, and frequent parking patrols, while no other neighborhood stands out, McCann said.

Another hotspot is Seaview Avenue Northwest, next to Golden Gardens Park and Shilshole Bay Marina, where more than 2,200 citations were issued this past July, August and September. At South Lake Union, about 400 tickets were written in third quarter at 1050 Valley St., a city parking lot near the lake, tech offices and construction sites.

Police data shows differences across the city: There are no parking meters and relatively few citations in West Seattle, where the most frequent violation was expired or missing license tabs, or plates. North Seattle ranks first in violations you'd expect where neighborhood retailers and semidense housing streets converge, such as blocked driveways, parking more than 72 hours in one spot, or encroaching on fire hydrants. South Lake Union, downtown and the waterfront stand out for loading zone violations.

McCann said the 2025 increases are a simple matter for his department, requiring software adjustments and minimal staff training.

"I don't know how it will affect parking behavior, but it's not going to change how we approach parking enforcement," McCann said.

Assuming he's right, an average 1,000 citations a day will flap upon windshields in all corners of the city.

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