Pittsburgh Parking Authority Increasing Rates At Some Garages

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The gales of November blew in higher parking rates at most Pittsburgh Parking Authority garages in downtown Pittsburgh.

PPA Executive Director David Onorato says, "It's not across the board at all. We looked at them and evaluated each garage."

Onorato says garages that were 40 percent below the market rate in Pittsburgh were adjusted. The Oliver Garage actually saw its rate lowered and there was no change at the Grant Street Garage where the bus station is located.

The highest increase was a dollar a day bringing the "all-day rate: our high is 19 and our low is 13."

Onorato says they are also getting a boost from the new Go Mobile PGH app: "We're at about 80 percent of the plates we check on compliance and we've seen a nice increase from revenue from that."

But they did discover a fly in the ointment when people with the app were getting parking tickets.

The issue? They have more than one car but only put one car on their app.

While adjustments were made when the user proved they had the app and tried to pay, there were still fines.

Onorato says, "If we let it go scot free there is no learning curve. But you can put two license plates on your registration."

Recognizing it is an issue, Onorato says they made a change to the app.

"Right before you hit confirm, it will ask you 'is this the plate you have today?' At that point, you can switch to the car you are driving and avoid a ticket and fine."