Cars are returning to downtown Seattle, and parking companies want to do more to attract them
In a small sign that Seattle’s downtown is returning to life, one of the city’s major parking providers said cars are coming back to the city’s core more than a year after the Covid-19 pandemic began.
David Damus, CEO of System Parking Corp., which owns 740 parking spaces in downtown Seattle, said occupancy of those spaces is up 5% in March. By contrast, the number of cars parked in those spaces plummeted by 80% when the pandemic began in 2020 and had remained flat until last month.
Separately, Damus said his company’s parking facilities near Seattle-Tacoma International Airport have recently seen a 20% increase in occupancy, an indication that more people are traveling.
The news comes as Covid-19 vaccine supplies are increasing and downtown’s major employers are making plans to reopen their offices later this year.
https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2021/04/01/parking-structures-post-covid.html
The cost of parking downtown makes taking the bus an affordable alternative.