Since the radio station is in downtown Grand Rapids, I happen to see a lot of people who come downtown and aren’t really sure about parking.

I always feel sorry when I see people putting money in a meter after 6 pm weekdays or anytime on the weekend, because most, if not ALL the meters downtown are free during those times.

So knowing that a lot of people don’t spend as much time downtown as I do, I thought I’d help you figure out how to know whether or not you need to drop some coin in the meter.

There are a few ways to pay for parking downtown.  With the MOTU app, we have parking spot markers and you can put in your zone and spot number in the app.  If it’s non-enforced time, the app won’t charge you.  That’s the easiest because the big payment box will still take your money (I do believe.)

BUT let's say you only come downtown GR every so often, so you don’t need the app, I get it. Then here’s how to read the enforcement times on the meters.

First, there are two types of meters downtown.  The old ones that don’t have the credit card readers like this one:

Rob Sparks/TSM
Rob Sparks/TSM
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now this meter does actually say it on the front as a "CAUTION"  but not all of them say that... BUT they all do say their enforcement times on the backside like this:

Rob Sparks/TSM
Rob Sparks/TSM
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The other meters that are downtown, are the new meters that take credit cards:

Rob Sparks/TSM
Rob Sparks/TSM
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And you can find the enforcement times for those meters on the digital display like below:

Rob Sparks/TSM
Rob Sparks/TSM
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I really hope this helps! Because nothing is more annoying than spending some of your laundry or emergency toll money, on a meter that didn't need coin.  Plus, with how expensive parking is already downtown, who wants to give the city more money than you have to.

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