Motorists in need of street parking in downtown Honolulu on Monday generally aren’t happy about the city’s announcement that on-street parking meter rates will be doubling in the coming weeks.

Rates for meters along the busiest streets in Chinatown, downtown and Waikiki are increasing to $3 an hour from $1.50 an hour. Meters in other neighborhoods such as Kaimuki, Kailua, Kalihi, Kakaako and Ala Moana are jumping to $1.50 an hour from 75 cents an hour.

The new rates were supposed to take effect Monday, but city Transportation Services Director Wes Frysztacki said it likely will take about five weeks to adjust all of Oahu’s roughly 3,150 street parking meters, both the electronic “smart meter” ones that can accept credit cards and coins, as well as the old-school, heavy-duty, coin-only Duncan parking meters.

Count Kalihi resident Lonnie Augustine, who parks downtown daily to pick up his wife after work, among the unhappy drivers. “It’s double!” Augustine said, noting that he usually shows up an hour early to avoid traffic jams.

Augustine said he can’t understand why the hit has to take place at one time, and believes the city should have raised the rates incrementally — possibly 50 cents a year over three years.

Sharon Mahoney of Nuuanu said it’s just one additional cost of owning and driving a vehicle. “You have to think twice before you take the car out,” she said.

She shrugged her shoulders and pointed out she’s not a fan of parallel parking stalls to begin with.

Kaimuki resident Steve Decker, a public school teacher, said too many of his colleagues are quitting their jobs with the cost of paradise always on the rise. “A lot of my friends park on the street, but that’s the only option they have.”

Despite the reluctance to pay more, some motorists said they understand the increase.

Pearl City resident Ethan Okamura said it’s a bad time for the city to raise parking meter rates. “Man, everything is going up,” he said, adding that his philosophy is that parking should be provided free for everyone.

Still, $3 an hour downtown is “not that bad,” he said. “Most (downtown off-street lots) are $3 for half an hour. Parking downtown is expensive.”

Pauoa resident Butch Borengasse was philosophical about the situation. “Everything’s going up, but you gotta expect a raise to kick in at some time and the time is never convenient. You’ve just got to make the best out of life.”

Lisa Sorensen, who lives in Waikiki part of the year, said the new rate is still cheaper than her other home in Vancouver, British Columbia. Motorists there need to pay between $3 and $7 an hour, “even in the outlying areas,” Sorensen said.

She added, “Somebody’s got to pay for the streets and the maintenance.”

The rate hikes were approved under Bill 12 (2017) by the City Council and signed by Mayor Kirk Caldwell in June 2017.

Frysztacki, who heads the Department of Transportation Services, said on-street metered parking rates last were raised in 2004, when the most common rate went to $1.50 an hour from $1 an hour.

The latest increase will bring about $4 million more annually to the city’s highway fund, dedicated to improving, maintaining and repairing Oahu’s streets, Frysztacki said. With the increase, the off-street meters will provide between $7 million and $8 million annually, he said. The money will not go toward the rail project, he said.

While the increase will bring in more revenue, the rate hike is also a tool to better manage the supply and demand of the city’s parking stalls.

In 2016 the Council, through a resolution, mandated a study on off-street parking management practices in high-demand areas. The Honolulu Urban Core Parking Master Plan, conducted by Walker Parking Consultants, concluded that free or low-priced parking rates encourage motorists to stay longer in a stall, which prohibits another motorist from parking, Frysztacki said.

In the traffic management industry, the ideal situation is when 85 percent of stalls are occupied, leaving 15 percent available “so people aren’t always going around looking for a parking space,” Frysztacki said.

When the rate hike was proposed in 2017, opposition came from merchants and residents in Chinatown and Waikiki.

Lee Stack, a businesswoman and a member of the Chinatown Improvement Association, said the free parking available to stores in shopping malls such as Ala Moana gives them a distinct advantage over her association’s members. Raising the fares will make that difference even greater.

Waikiki Neighborhood Board Chairman Robert Finley said both residents and hotel workers rely on street parking, including those who work off hours when TheBus service is unavailable.

PAYING MORE TO PARK

The price of using on-street parking meter stalls was due to double in most areas Monday, but the city said it will take some time to recalibrate the meters and put up signs:

Street parking in the Honolulu urban core and Waikiki:

>> $3, up from $1.50. Affected ares include Chinatown, downtown, the Civic Center near Honolulu Hale, and Waikiki from Hobron Lane to Kapahulu Avenue. Rates and hours at the Honolulu Zoo and Kapiolani Park will remain the same.

Street parking outside the urban core:

>> $1.50, up from 75 cents. Affected neighborhoods include Kaimuki, Liliha, Aala, Kalihi, Kailua, Kakaako, Sheridan Tract, Kapahulu, McCully, Makiki and Ala Moana. It will take up to five weeks for the upgrades to take effect at the coin-operated meters.

Meters in off-street city parking lots:

>> No change.

Effective hours:

>> No change for most of Oahu, except in Waikiki. New Waikiki hours are 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week, including holidays; they previously were 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

Source: City Department of Transportation Services