WASHINGTON, D. C. (Monday, May 8, 2017) –– It’s over. Free parking is set to disappear today for the disabled in the busiest parts of the District, where on-street parking and disabled parking spaces are already in short supply. It’s official. Washington, D.C. is joining an ever-growing list of places across the region and nation, including Arlington, Alexandria, and Baltimore, ending free on-street parking privileges, especially in the tony heart of the city, for drivers and occupants of vehicles displaying disability placards or tags. Now, the disabled will have to pay $9.20 for the privilege of parking up to four hours at those Red Top parking meters, notes AAA Mid-Atlantic. Before they didn’t have to pay one red cent or carry one thin dime.

A disabled parker’s loss is the city’s gain. The change will save the city millions of dollars annually.  The District estimated it “lost out on $1.5 million to $2.1 million in revenue due to free handicapped parking in fiscal 2011” alone, according to news reports. After a series of fits and starts, dating back to 2012, the oft-delayed, much-changed Red Top parking meter program, initially designed exclusively for the disabled, begins in earnest this morning within the boundaries of downtown Washington’s Central Business District (CBD), which contains three-fourths of all metered spaces in the city. Red Top meters were installed in the CBD five years ago.

Of some consolation, disabled persons can still park for up to four hours for free in other parts of the city where the demand for parking is less and the number of available spaces is fewer. The implementation of the final iteration of the city’s handicapped parking policy means everyone, including persons with disabilities, must now pay to park in the Central Business District (CBD), where tens of thousands of motorists, shoppers, foodies and diners circle the block sometimes in the vain hope of finding an open parking space.

“Across the country, more communities are jettisoning free parking for people with physical disabilities for the oddest of reasons. They contend the changes will end the widespread, fraudulent use of handicapped parking placards or plates by able-bodied persons. But that is tantamount to throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Instead, cities and jurisdictions should crack down hard on and prosecute motorists who abuse the system,” said John B. Townsend II, AAA Mid-Atlantic’s Manager of Public and Government Affairs. “To its credit, the District of Columbia will continue providing free parking to disabled persons in other parts of the city. The number is dwindling for the states with a uniform statewide parking policy exemption for vehicles displaying handicap license plates or placards. In 2014, ‘more than 20 states required cities to provide free parking to the handicapped,’ according to news reports. An era is ending.”

Starting today, only individuals with disability placards hanging from their rear-view mirror, or displaying duly authorized special plates, can park at the eponymous Red Top Meters, so named for their distinctive red tops, and yet they still must pay to do so. The District government will absorb the Parkmobile service charges or transaction fees for disabled persons who pay by phone to park at Red Top Meters.

It is a double whammy for the disabled community and groups, including disabled veterans and people “with severe mobility problems and difficulties.” Next month, by June 12 at the earliest, disabled persons will also have to pay at parking meters on the National Mall, as free parking becomes a thing of the past on the iconic venue. The National Park Service is currently installing parking meters on the National Mall. Consistent with the rules for parking meters in the city’s Central Business District (CBD), disabled persons will have to pay at metered spaces on the National Mall.

In addition to Alexandria, Arlington and Baltimore, Chicago and Portland have “ended free handicapped parking at meters.” Across the Potomac, Arlington County revised its handicapped parking rules and regulations in 1998 and the City of Alexandria followed suit in 2009. To combat the “theft of handicapped placards,” the City of Baltimore dropped the custom of providing free parking to the disabled in 2014.  Justifying the move, Arlington County officials contend: “In 1998, in close cooperation with advocates of the disabled community, the County Board created a new law that required motorists displaying handicapped placards or license plates to pay at all Arlington parking meters.”

Despite the high demand for curbside parking, only six percent of on-street parking spaces in the city is metered. Initially, the city planned to reserve nine percent of the metered spaces across the city, or a total of 1,500 parking meters, as “Red Top Meters.” At the time that ratio appeared to be within the ratio of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) guidelines of “One of eight accessible parking spaces, but always at least one, must be van-accessible.”  However, the plan was marred by years of controversy, confusion, revisions and false starts. To quell the brouhaha and accommodate the disabled, the District government has opted to install approximately 350 Red Top parking meters within the CBD or the heart of the city.

The Red Top parking meter system signals the end of free reserved parking for people with disabilities in the CBD corridor, which houses over three quarters or 77.7 percent (14,000 parking meters) of the city’s inventory of 18,000 metered spaces, and encompasses the National Mall, the White House and “areas south of Massachusetts Avenue, east of 23rd Street NW and west of 2nd Street NE.”  By the way, a fifth of the people (20.3 percent) residing in the District of Columbia are physically disabled or live with a select disability, such as mobility, cognitive, vision and self-care difficulties, according to 2015 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  In 2009, 42, 254 District residents, ages 16-64, had disabilities. 

District officials contend the changes will provide persons with disabilities “greater access to curbside parking in the high demand, congested CBD area by setting aside reserved, accessible parking meters.” However, outside the CBD plate holders can park for free at any parking meter in the city for up to double the posted time limit on the meter or up to 4 hours. “Motorists with the qualified placard or license plates who park longer than the time allowed on the meter will be subject to a $30 fine for an expired meter,” the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) warns. Able-bodied violators with the gall to park in those slots will be fined $250. 

Here is the official spiel. “Starting May 8, 2017, vehicles with placards or plates parking at meters in the CBD must pay the meter fee and park for the time posted on the meter or sign,” explains the District Department of Transportation (DDOT). “Placard and plate holders may park at any Red Top Meter and pay the meter fee and receive additional time.” In the District, metered and curbside spaces reserved for a disabled parking permit holder are typically marked with the “wheelchair symbol.” Bear in mind, “a disability parking placard or plate is only valid when being used by the person with the disability or someone who is driving the person with the disability,” the District Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) warns.

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