The town of Bar Harbor is banking on continued high demand for its paid downtown parking, after revenue from the program more than doubled in the five years since it started.
This year, the summer tourism mecca has increased the number of public downtown parking spaces for which it’s charging the premium rate of $4 per hour. That’s twice as much as the cheaper spaces that are farther away from the intersection of Maine and Cottage streets, which cost $2 per hour in the two-tiered fee schedule.
With the increased number of pricier spots, the town is expecting to make more money this summer from parking revenue than it has in previous years. After the program took in $1.65 million during its first season in 2019, that number rose to $3.4 million by last year. This year, the town aims to bring in $3.6 million.
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Another significant change this year is that the town has replaced payment meters at individual spaces with a smaller number of shared kiosks along the streets and in public parking lots, within eyesight of spaces.
The modifications come as a growing number of Maine’s coastal destinations, including Rockland and Camden, have followed Bar Harbor’s lead in starting to charge for public parking.
They also come as Bar Harbor has struggled with increased summer tourism and looked to encourage alternate forms of transportation around Mount Desert Island and Acadia National Park.
Bar Harbor raised its parking rates to $2 and $4 per hour on July 1, 2023, the first day of the town’s 2023-2024 fiscal year. They’d previously been $1.50 and $2 per hour.
This spring, the elected Town Council, at the recommendation of municipal staff, decided to extend premium parking farther west on Cottage Street, to the section between Rodick and Bridge streets. A town-owned parking lot on the corner of Cottage and Bridge streets also will switch to the premium rate of $4 per hour.
The $2 per hour rate still applies to street parking on Cottage and West streets west of Bridge Street, on Mount Desert Street west of Kennebec Street, and on Main Street south of Hancock Street. Parking at the southern end of Main Street is more limited than usual this year, however, because a section of the road is expected to be closed for months as utility lines are upgraded between Wayman Lane and Cromwell Harbor Road.
Only residents are allowed to park on neighborhood side streets in downtown Bar Harbor when the paid parking system is in effect between May 15 and Oct. 30.
State law restricts how municipalities can use revenue from paid parking on public property. Last year, the Legislature amended the law to allow cities and towns to use such revenue for property tax relief and capital infrastructure projects, in addition to the traditional uses of maintaining and improving paid parking systems, public roads, streetscapes, and parking areas.
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect changes in how municipalities can spend parking fee revenue.