Reading and PayByPhone Partner in Downtown Paid Parking Effort

Two municipal lots now offer paid parking to increase visitor access to downtown businesses

Reading, MA — The Town of Reading today announces the addition of paid parking to two Downtown Municipal Lots. Starting in October, those parking in the Upper Municipal Parking Lot (behind CVS) and the Brande Court Parking Lot will be required to pay to park during regular enforcement hours Monday through Friday between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Easy payment options include four solar-powered kiosk stations (two per lot), which accept credit or debit cards and coins, or the PayByPhone mobile application. The PayByPhone app is also used by the MBTA for parking across its system, including here in Reading at the Commuter Rail. 

On-street parking in downtown Reading will remain in effect and free. Across both paid lots, up to one hour of parking is free. The payment rates for the parking lots are as follows: up to four hours is one dollar per hour, and more than four hours is five dollars an hour. There is no parking time maximum. All users must enter their license plate number at a kiosk or the PayByPhone app upon arrival so that parking enforcement can track all vehicles in the lot at any given time. 

“With the addition of paid parking to the downtown area, we’re creating more frequent parking turnover for our visitors,” said Fidel Maltez, Reading’s Town Manager. “The new pay-to-park format will allow more access to use centrally located parking areas, helping our downtown businesses continue to thrive.”

The Upper Municipal and the Brande Court lots are the only paid parking downtown, other than designated MBTA spaces (resident permits enforced between 6:00 a.m.-9:30 a.m. Monday- Friday). The majority of downtown parking spaces remain free. Residents and employees are encouraged to visit the downtown parking map on the town website (link below) to review areas of available parking throughout the downtown area. 

The Town of Reading, after hearing concerns about the utilization and availability of parking within these lots, embarked on a multi-year study to assess parking within these lots and throughout the rest of downtown. The study, and its eventual recommendations, was led by the Public Services Department and the Parking Advisory & Recommendations Committee (PARC). PARC was comprised of downtown business owners, private property owners, Reading residents, Town staff, and Select Board members. A key recommendation set forth by PARC was the creation of additional regulation and higher overturn of parking availability within the Upper Municipal and Brande Court lots, which was approved by Town Meeting in April 2022. 

For more information about paid parking, visit the dedicated website here: Downtown Visitor/Customer Parking | Reading, MA (readingma.gov).