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Four days after toll hikes went into effect on the MTA’s bridges and tunnels, the city has begun increasing parking-meter rates to grab even more cash from drivers.
Workers today will begin the months-long process of visiting every meter in the city and recalibrating them for the cost hike, which was approved in Mayor Bloomberg’s latest budget.
In Manhattan south of 86th Street, where passenger and commercial parking rates at Muni-Meters are $2.50 per hour, rates will increase to $3 per hour.
And throughout the rest of the city, where passenger parking rates at metered locations are 25 cents for 20 minutes, rates will increase to 25 cents for 15 minutes.
City residents who regularly use the meters fumed yesterday.
“The city is expensive enough,” said Murray Hill doorman Felix Miranda. “Bloomberg should focus his energy on people who have the money, not on the working class.”
But Robert Gallant, 61, a clothing manufacturer who lives in Miranda’s building, may be in the minority that disagrees.
“It’s a wonderful thing,” he said. “The city is broke. The state is broke. I have plenty of money, and I have no problem paying the meter.”
There are 50,402 single-space meters and 4,834 Muni-Meters throughout the five boroughs.
The meters produced $138.9 million in city revenue last year and provided jobs to 125 Department of Transportation employees who repair and maintain them.
Some motorists will catch a bit of a break because the rollout takes time.
It starts today in Manhattan and Queens. The Bronx won’t see the changeover start until March, and Brooklyn and Staten Island start in April.
A spokesman for the city DOT estimates that changes will be completed by June 30, 2011.
And this still may not be the end of drivers getting nickel-and-dimed.
Earlier this year, The Post reported that the city is considering an expansion of a plan where drivers are charged more money during the busiest times and at certain locations around the city.
The intent is to bring metered rates more in line with the demands of the consumer market.
Currently, a driver can park for several hours in a metered spot for only a few dollars, while a nearby parking garage may cost 10 to 20 times as much.
A similar pilot project is already under way. The city recently completed a pilot program to increase meter rates in three neighborhoods — the West Village, Park Slope in Brooklyn and the Upper East Side.
The idea was to free up parking spaces near businesses.
In 2009, 71 Muni-Meters in the West Village were permanently changed to $3.75 per hour from noon to 4 p.m., and $2.50 per hour at other times.
In October, The Post reported that the city is looking in to privatizing the meters — which has been done in Chicago — and that they could be worth as much $5 billion.
Additional reporting by Amber Sutherland