1 hour 33 Min = $19! — Downtown Parking Price Gouging Alert!

Almost everyone I know hates to pay to park but it is often a necessity from time to time.  This last Friday I was completely shocked to pay $19 for parking 1 hour and 33 minutes when I was downtown for a community meeting.  At first I was mainly mad at myself for not watching closer but as I looked at the details my anger began to build because this particular ramp is taking advantage of citizens who need to park for government services and many of whom have limited disposable income  – in my opinion this ramp is guilty of price gouging!  Please read on and let me know if you agree.

Location

The ramp in question is 501 Self Park located at 501 4th Avenue South in Downtown Minneapolis.  To give you a reference it is the ramp just across 6th Street from Thrivent.  It is surrounded by government facilities — Hennepin County Government Center  is just across 4th Avenue,  Minneapolis City Hall is just across 5th Street and the Hennepin County Jail is right next door across the Light Rail tracks.  If you drive past this ramp you will see signs directing you into this ramp that say “Court Parking”, Public Parking, and an advertisement saying $2.00 for the first 20 minutes.  There is no question in my mind that they are praying on the occasional parker who is coming downtown to interact in someway with one of these government entities or a nearby business.

Pricing

The sign is accurate that the first 20 minutes are $2.00.  If you are there 21 – 40 minutes it jumps up to $13 and then it is an additional $2.00 every 20 minutes until you reach the daily maximum of $24.  If this is where the story ended I would attribute it to high downtown prices and just move on.  The piece that really angered me was the parking special, if you arrive by 9:00 it is only $8 for the entire day.  But wait!  I arrived at 6:50 am and left at 8:23!  There is one more catch — you cannot leave until after 12:00!  From a business perspective why would you add the limit of not leaving until a certain time, this goes against better judgment whereby the sooner someone leaves the more space is available for others to park.  Then it hit me, they want to pray on the short term parker who has to come downtown for some type of government service!  The $2 rate for the first 20 minutes is very nice but lets be honest, when was the last time you had to go to a government office and was able to get in and out including walking to the office in under 20 minutes?  Anyone coming downtown to renew their license, talk to a city official, attend a court hearing or bail someone out of jail will be caught by this pricing!  The true municipal parking ramp can be found by just driving to the other side of the same block and entering the parking ramp off of 5th Avenue and paying $3 an hour up to a daily maximum of $10.50 if you are there less than 12 hours.  The entry to the skyway looks identical and are within 30 feet of each other.

Who Runs the Ramp?

The ramp is operated by Allied Parking.  When I called to inquire about the pricing policy I was told by management that they are absolutely taking advantage of the location and are charging high rates for short-term parkers.  The individual suggested that more customers should shop around and that they allow a 15 minute grace period if someone enters and decides not to park.  He indicated that they try not to be false in their advertising and try to make it as clear as possible through their signage.  After talking to Allied I went back to look at the signs and realized why I didn’t think twice about parking there.  The most visible sign said “Court Parking” and Public Parking.  There is only one little sign once you are already in the ramp that said the rates and it blends into the wall so it would be very easy to miss as you are going around the corner.  It is also posted where you pull a ticket but by that time you are committed since there isn’t an easy way to exit and are more focused on figuring out how to get your ticket then looking at the rates.  In reviewing the signage I think much more can be done to make sure customers don’t think this is a government ramp and to ensure parkers know the price before they are shocked.  The most interesting thing of the whole conversation was at the very end when I was offered some free parking passes for my trouble and to keep my future business.  I declined — I wasn’t calling because I couldn’t afford the $19, I am much more concerned for the citizens that have to use the government services, park and then are ripped off!

Who Owns the Ramp?

Given the location and the signs, you would easily think this might be a government owned ramp — It is not!  After considerable looking it actually is owned by a very well known national company.  The ramp itself is owned by an entity called Urban Growth Properties Trust with an address of Scottsdale, Arizona.  If you look into the trust you find that it is owned by a private company called InterPark out of Chicago.  I called InterPark and found out it is actually owned by GE Capital Real Estate which is an operating unit of General Electric!  I am sure GE corporate is not specifically aware of this pricing strategy as I would hope they would also see that this practice is unfair.  The thing that makes this that much more insulting is that I am a GE shareholder — In essence I am benefitting personally from this terrible pricing policy!

Outcome

My hope in writing this post is that you share this terrible story with as many others as you can and hopefully enough people will hear and express their disappointment that the predatory pricing changes.  My greatest fear is that users will continue to park in this ramp, be ripped off and then leave thinking it was the City of Minneapolis or Hennepin County taking their money which will lead to even more distrust and dissatisfaction with government.  What I would ask the ramp to consider is making it explicitly clear that this ramp is a private business — Not Government Owned, and to remove the restriction penalizing parkers who arrive early but leave before noon.