The City of Great Falls is concluding its first-ever two-hour free summer parking trial for the downtown north parking garage. It officially ends on September 1st, 2024.
“The reason we did that was we didn't have a ton of occupancy in those garages. We were like at 20-40%, and we wanted to raise awareness and have more people come to our downtown to enjoy the many offerings we have,” said Brock Cherry, planning and community development director.
The city planning and community development office is trying to enhance the user experience, while also making the public aware of the available facilities.
“What we've tried to do is take a look at it from a different angle; we have our mayor and we have commissioners who are new that want to see if we can do anything different,” Cherry said.
They will be collecting all the data to compare numbers from before and after the summer trial parking and will have the information prepared for the October 1st City Commission work session meeting.
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“We're going to present our findings, and so far from looking at the data, very preliminarily, we have seen an immense increase in utilization, so I’m glad people know those garages exist,” Cherry added.
After reflecting on all the data collected, the city may decide to look into other methods of communicating the garages to the public, such as signs.
After September 1st, parking rates will go back to normal at $0.50 an hour.
Additionally, parking in both the north and south parking garages is free after 6pm during the week, and free on weekends and holidays.
