The free ride is over at Bucks County’s two parking garages near the Justice Center and Administration Building in Doylestown Borough.
County officials confirmed this week that a parking fee will be instituted at 1,000-spot Union Street Garage and the soon-to-open 153-spot Administration Garage at Court and Broad streets in the county seat.
Bucks County General Services Director Kevin Spencer told LevittownNow.com that a small fee will start being charged on Wednesday, April 1.
The larger four-level garage next to the Justice Center on Union Street has been fee for visitors, staff, and those who need to use county government services since it opened about a decade ago. It replaced a previous nearby parking deck that was taken down when work on the Justice Center began.
The Union Street Garage will be open at no cost to county workers, jurors, victims, and witnesses during normal business hours. The Justice Center will validate tickets for authorized parkers.
Below are the rates for the garages:
The small public parking lot near the ramp on the rear side of the Justice Center will remain free. However, there is limited parking in that lot.
Spencer said the addition of fees for the previously-free parking comes because the county is seeking to cover operational and preventative maintenance costs to upkeep the structures.
On average, the county spends about $125,000 per year to upkeep the Union Street Garage, Spencer said.
Over 2019 and 2020, the county is spending $820,000 with MAARV Waterproofing for preventative maintenance and specialized repairs on the Union Street Garage’s top two levels.
“We have two more levels of the garage that require similar preventative maintenance and specialized repairs,” Spencer said.
The new Administration Garage replaces a ground-level parking lot that only held about 70 vehicles. The total cost for the project will be around $5 million when completed next week.
The Bucks County Commissioners earlier this week approved a contract with Nevada-based Shift4 Corporation to provide gateway and credit card processing services for the two garages. The cost will be 2 percent to 5 percent of revenues.
The Commissioners also approved a contract with California-based ChargePoint Inc. to install four electric vehicle charging stations for the Administration Garage. The cost will be 10 percent of charging port revenues and $280 per port, per year.
Spencer said the county is looking at rates for the chargers that cover the cost of electricity and a service fee.
