Nashville's street parking system is smart, but still learning. Here's what's next.

It's been about eight months since street parking in Nashville got "smart."

Beginning in February, Nashville replaced its nearly 1,300 coin-operated street parking meters with modernized multi-space kiosks that accept payments via coins, credit cards and e-commerce transactions on smart phones.

With these updates came stricter enforcement and challenges that the Nashville Department of Transportation is still working through.

Here's what to know about street parking in Nashville: meters, parking tickets and plans for the future.

Smart parking meters log more than 320,000 transactions

Since February, NDOT installed 116 multi-space pay stations throughout the city, serving about 1,800 parking spaces. Another 109 machines in inventory have yet to be installed.

While NDOT has expanded the number of metered street parking spaces, Director Diana Alarcon said the changes have been focused "within the footprint that we currently have."

Parking meter rates have remained the same: $2.25 per hour in the central business district and $1.75 per hour outside of that area.

NDOT will likely raise those rates in the future, according to Alarcon, but any rate changes will require approval from the Traffic and Parking Commission.

People with accessible parking placards or license plates may park on the street for free but must comply with posted time limits.

City-owned metered spaces are enforced 24/7 in Nashville's downtown core, located inside the Interstate 40 loop up to Harrison Street. In areas outside the interstate loop — Midtown, Edgehill, Hillsboro Village and Music Row, for instance — enforcement starts at 6 a.m. and runs until midnight.

Through September, NDOT reported 321,000 transactions totaling $1.44 million in revenue through the kiosks and phone applications, a "tremendous increase" in overall parking revenue. About 99% of transactions were made through credit cards, according to NDOT. The average ticket value was about $4.50, aligning with the average parking duration of just under two hours.

Revenue from the metered spaces goes toward infrastructure improvements for transportation and parking.

"It can go toward signalization, sidewalks, bike lanes, new roads, transit, you name it," Alarcon said. "We expect (street parking) to make money and not lose money for the first time.... We'll start building up some opportunities to be able to actually do what was the intent behind it, which was to have that be a funding generator to be able to do some of the transportation initiatives that we need."

Businesses report concerns over 2-hour time limits

NDOT divided the metered spots into seven "zones," each with daily parking time limits in an attempt to prioritize street parking use for quick visits to businesses.

Kiosks in most areas allow users to purchase a maximum two hours of daytime parking (with a one-hour minimum).

Businesses have reported concerns about time limits on metered parking, Alarcon said.

"We really want long-term parking to happen on a surface lot or in a garage, and leave the on-street parking mainly for ... pickups, deliveries, or for someone who just needs to run in, grab something and run out," Alarcon said, noting the city's desire to divert these users to street parking instead of bike lanes or loading zones. "Everything's a little step closer to get us to where we need to be (in order to) be a functioning city."

But in busy meter zones like downtown, the daily two-hour street parking maximum may not be sufficient time to complete errands, sit down for a meal or do other activities.

Parking Pay Station Zones by USA TODAY Network on Scribd

"We are exploring the ability to break downtown into smaller zones so someone can buy two hours in that zone, buy two hours in the next zone ... to meet that overall business need, especially if the on-street parking is available, because that's what it's intended for," Alarcon said.

The program is fluid and NDOT is learning as it goes — previously, Metro was not able to collect detailed data and did not analyze parking trends. The department has extended maximum parking times in select areas, including around music venues.

Downtown, SoBro, Midtown, Edgehill, Hillsboro Village and Music Row

• Up to 5 p.m.: 2-hour parking maximum

• After 5 p.m.: 3-hour parking maximum

The Gulch

• 3-hour parking maximum

Gulch East

• 3-hour parking maximum for Gleaves Street, Overton Street, Ninth Avenue S., Magazine Street and Old Division Street

• After 6 p.m.: extend parking up to six hours

Metro owns two parking garages in downtown Nashville: the Church Street Plaza Garage (downtown Library) and the Public Square Garage (Metro Courthouse). Garage parking rates span from $3 to $20 for all-day parking, with night and weekend parking ranging from $5 to $10 (with the exception of event parking, which ranges from $10 to $15).

Stricter enforcement

Prior to the smart parking program launch, six enforcement officers monitored city meters. Now, a staff of 21 officers monitors meters and can enforce parking, sidewalk vending, party bus and noise ordinance regulations.

For now, NDOT enforcement is issuing paper citations, but a citation management system is in the pipeline and expected to go live around December or January. The system will allow officers to issue citations using a phone application. In areas where parking is time-limited but no meter is present, officers will be able to capture time-stamped photographs of vehicles' rear tires to act as "digital chalk."

Enforcement officers will also be able to scan license plates using vehicle-mounted license plate readers to check that appropriate payment has been made.

NDOT issued warning tickets from the beginning of the program's rollout in February through April and part of May. The department has since adopted a policy granting a courtesy dismissal for first-time parking tickets.

While NDOT's current focus is encouraging parking compliance, any future meter expansions into other portions of the city will come with a two-week public feedback period before meters are installed, followed by a two-week grace period when warnings are issued for initial noncompliance.

On the horizon

Alarcon said NDOT is continuing its discussion with neighborhoods around how residential parking should work.

"We put these programs in place, but the enforcement didn't happen so people still weren't doing what they were supposed to," she said. "We want to start with the enforcement side before we come in with meters or anything else that needs to be done."

When asked about equity in payment options, Alarcon said "it is on our mind," floating the possibility of configuring the kiosks to accept payment via WeGo QuickTickets, reloadable fare cards recently rolled out by Nashville's public transit system. Over the past two weeks, community advocates have drawn attention to riders experiencing difficulties with that transition.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville parking: What to know about 'smart' street meters