February 12, 2021

Hoboken launches effort to increase parking in business districts, offers discount employee and customer parking programs

To help increase parking availability in business districts, new parking meter rates of $0.50 per 15 minutes will go into effect on Friday, March 5. The new rates aim to achieve a best practice of 85% occupancy rates in business districts, corresponding to one-to-two parking space availability on each block. At a rate of $0.50 for 15 minutes, Hoboken’s metered parking rates in business districts would be on par with rates in Atlantic City, New Brunswick, Asbury Park, Belmar, and Ocean City in New Jersey, as well as numerous other cities across the country. Increasing on-street parking availability also serves to reduce the number of double-parked cars blocking roadways and bike lanes in business districts.

The new meter rates were adopted by City Council in 2020 and are supported by the Hoboken Chamber of Commerce and the Hoboken Business Alliance. Additionally, the City is partnering with ParkMobile to offer a promo code that will give customers a 50% discount on transactions in ParkMobile zones within business districts. The promo code will be valid for up 50 uses per account through December 31, 2021. Meter rates in permit parking zones outside of business districts will remain unchanged at $0.25 per 15 minutes.  

Business districts where the new rates will take effect include Washington Street, 14th Street, 1st Street, River Street, and the Hoboken Terminal area. Click here for a map of the areas where $0.50/15 min. meter rates will be in effect.  

“As we’ve stated in the past, the Hudson County and Hoboken Chambers of Commerce are supportive of these changes,” said Maria Nieves, President of the Hudson County Chamber of Commerce. “While it may seem counterintuitive, higher pricing on metered parking leads to higher rates of turnover on those spots, which is good for business. Especially now, we need to use every tool in our collective toolboxes to support small and locally owned business in particular. This is a step in the right direction.”

“The Hoboken Business Alliance will continue to partner and support City-led measures to make Hoboken parking work for the businesses,” said Gregory DellAquila, President of the Hoboken Business Alliance. “Meter rates within our business districts and the garages rates, both public and private, must work to drive employees and visitors to park in the right location for the right period of time. The HBA supports parking rate increases in our commercial districts. Meter rate increases must be one part of a multi-prong solution that the HBA will continue work with the City and making Hoboken easier to navigate. Communicating parking changes and availability is key to any parking solution that takes place both in the short term and long term in Hoboken. The hope is that integration between websites, mobile apps and signage will one day connect cars with parking in the right location for the right period of time. The HBA will work with the City in lockstep to making parking in Hoboken a positive experience.”

“The new parking initiatives we’re implementing are important steps forward in addressing the decades-old problem of parking availability in Hoboken,” said Mayor Ravi S. Bhalla. “Our goal is to increase on-street parking availability for customers, while simultaneously offering discounted parking for employees of businesses, as well as customers, in our municipal garages. I thank the Hoboken Business Alliance, Hudson Chamber of Commerce, Hoboken City Council and former transportation sub-committee chair Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher for collaborating with the City on these parking changes.”

Discount employee parking program

The adjusted meter rates will also coincide with a discount employee parking program. Employees of Hoboken-based businesses without on-site, off-street parking available will be eligible for a discount parking rate of $5 for 12 hours in Garages B (28 2nd Street), D (215 Hudson Street), and Midtown (371 4th Street). At $5 for 12 hours, employees will be able to save 69% each day compared to parking on-street and feeding the meter for eight hours. Employees interested in applying for the $5 per day discount garage parking can contact HPU customer service at parking@hobokennj.gov or call 201-653-1919 Monday-Friday, 9:00am - 4:00pm.  

Discounted e-validation program for businesses

Parking validation is a new and convenient method for Hoboken business owners to provide customers with discounted parking at municipal garages. The Hoboken Parking Utility is launching a new online-based E-Validation system that will streamline purchasing, activating, tracking, and paying for parking validations. Business owners will be able to make payments at the end of each month based on the number of validations used instead of having to pre-purchase validation coupons. Additional benefits include:

Easy management: Enrolled businesses will receive an online account with Tiba Smartpark. Once set up, businesses can e-validate parking online for their customers and manage payments monthly.

Discounted rates: Customers parking at Garages B, D, and Midtown will receive 50% of the standard rate when using e-validations provided by a local business:

License plate recognition: New license plate recognition cameras will scan your customer’s license plate upon entry and exit, automatically applying the discounted rate.

No more validations to buy in advance at City Hall: E-Validation eliminates the need for merchant validation tickets, meaning business owners can skip the trip to City Hall and not worry about managing paper validation coupons.

Interested businesses will need to setup a business account in HPU Online in order to enroll in the E-Validation Program. For assistance with the enrollment process, businesses can contact Parking Utility customer service by email anytime at parking@hobokennj.gov, or call 201-653-1919 M-F, 9:00am - 4:00pm.

Real-time parking availability in garages

The City of Hoboken recently installed new, state-of-the-art parking access and revenue control systems in municipal garages, including “parking guidance systems” that provide real-time parking availability information for each garage. New signs on the exterior of each municipal garage displays the number of available parking spaces in real-time, and in the coming weeks this information will be added to the City website to help drivers know if parking is available before even starting their trips.