Harrisburg’s free evening parking gets another year, but commissioners want proof it works

Dauphin County Commissioners want data showing how many drivers are taking advantage of the parking.

• Katie Knol/WITF
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  Katie Knol is WITF's General Assignment Reporter & Host.
  
  She graduated from Penn State University in 2024, earning bachelor's degrees in journalism and political science. She has also worked at WPSU, the News Lab at Penn State, The Daily Collegian and CommRadio.

Disclosure: Gamut Theatre Group is a financial supporter of WITF. In deciding which stories to cover and how to cover them, WITF News is independent of content oversight, both internally and from external funders.

Dauphin County Commissioners have approved another year of free evening parking in downtown Harrisburg, but they want data showing how many drivers are taking advantage of the parking.

The county will provide $146,000 in unrestricted gaming funds to Park Harrisburg to continue offering free parking from 5 to 7 p.m. The initiative started in 2018 to bring foot traffic to downtown’s businesses

Cars can park for free in the Harrisburg Downtown Improvement District, which is between State Street to the north, Mulberry Street to the south, Front Street to the west and following the train tracks to the east.

Downtown business owners who spoke with WITF said the program is working, but they also say the cost and inconvenience of parking outside of the free hours remain a barrier for customers.

Parking downtown costs $4 an hour, plus a 99-cent processing fee for each transaction. That means an extra dollar when adding time onto the meter.

While commissioners agreed to continue the program, they said they want to see that the investment is benefiting downtown businesses. 

“This is going to be the last year that I want to support an effort without real meaningful looks at who this is benefiting,” Commissioner George Hartwick said during the July meeting.

Commissioners Justin Douglas and Mike Pries made similar statements — they want to support downtown businesses but need more information about the program’s impact. 

“We asked for the data last time. We haven’t received it,” Douglas said. “But I do believe we have to continue to invest in downtown, which is part of the challenge, and so I think we got to continue to press for data in the future.”

For Gamut Theatre Group on North Fourth Street, the free evening hours are helpful for rehearsals, said Hope Mackenzie, public relations manager.

“The 5 to 7 free [parking] helps so much because most of our rehearsals here start at 6, so it’s perfect,” she said. “Our rehearsal schedule has been great. Our actors are able to get free parking.”

On the flip side, families have to pay to park to drop their children off for rehearsals on Saturday mornings, when there is no free parking. Parking can also discourage people from attending daytime performances, Mackenzie said, because customers have to factor the cost of parking into the price of an event ticket. 

Mackenzie said another option would be if businesses could validate parking. During the July meeting, Hartwick said commissioners have discussed validation previously. 

Johanna Martin, who owns JoJo’s Barbershop on South 3rd Street, agreed parking is an obstacle for customers wanting to spend time downtown.

“It means that people are, I think, so much less inclined to want to park downtown for more unlimited swaths of time where they would be inclined to kind of explore,” she said. “People are curious, and people are bored and excited for new things to do, but are having this feeling of, ‘Oh, I have to plan my time really carefully.’”

Parking downtown has become less accessible over time, Martin said. There are fewer kiosks, and drivers pay through their phones. The app also accepts payments at any time, so it’s up to visitors to know enforcement hours.

She said better accessibility, more transparency and lower parking costs would help remove some barriers that keep customers away from the downtown.