Royal Oak parking changes: Back-in parking ends on Washington as part of overhaul
Royal Oak's back-in parking coming to an end
After years of grievances against the city's parking rules, Royal Oak is phasing out its back-in parking regulation.
ROYAL OAK, Mich. (FOX 2) - Big changes are coming to downtown Royal Oak as part of a parking system overhaul following years of complaints.
Among those changes include reverting back-in parking spots on Washington back to pull-in spots. On Monday, crews were downtown repainting lines on the street in preparation for the change.
The backstory:
The back-in spots appeared in 2021, and have been called inconvenient by people who have needed to use them, as well as those who avoided them.
"I think the intention of that system was to make it easy by automation," City Manager Joe Gacioch said. "Use technology, let cameras do the work of detecting the vehicles instead of people, and that's really why back-in parking was needed."
That automation involved parking meters that would scan a vehicle's license plate when it was backed into a spot. Those meters are going away as part of a broader plan to make parking easier in the city.
Dig deeper:
The parking spots on Washington will be free to use through Jan. 2, 2026, when the city implements its new parking system. After years of mounting complaints about the Sentry Mobile meters, which use cameras to scan license plates and send tickets, the city is switching to Flowbird meters and the ParkMobile app.
ParkMobile is the same app used in nearby cities, including Ferndale and Birmingham.
Residents, visitors, and business owners were able to test several meters as part of the parking overhaul process earlier this year, and the Flowbird meters were largely favored, according to the city.
What they're saying:
"Our mission is ‘make it simple,'" Gacioch said.
He hopes the parking changes will help bring people back to the city who have avoided Royal Oak because of the parking situation, and is encouraging people to give the city another chance as these changes become a reality.
The Source: Previous FOX 2 reporting and information from the city was used to write this update.