Frequently Asked Questions

Over the last few years, we have worked with the community several times to enhance existing parking programs, like the Resident Parking Permit Districts, and evaluate the pros and cons of specific initiatives, like on-street paid parking. However, we haven’t taken an in-depth and holistic look at our parking system—from the vision and guiding principles of the system, to what benefits it should offer the community, to how we should measure its success—since 2016, and even then, we were only focused on Downtown. This effort represents our first effort to comprehensively examine our entire parking system citywide.

The City examined the possibility of on-street paid parking in Downtown Bozeman in 2022. As part of this process, we engaged community members in conversations about on-street paid parking and how this initiative might affect their parking behaviors, perceptions and experiences. Following that examination, the City chose not to move forward with on-street paid parking at that time.

On-street paid parking is one of many different ideas that may be considered as part of this Strategic Parking Plan process to address challenges the Bozeman community experiences with the parking system. Any consideration of on-street paid parking as part of this Plan will be done with coordination and input from the community.  

Parking can be a contentious issue and we may not be able to come up with a solution that every single person will be happy with. However, the Strategic Parking Plan process will center a robust community engagement effort where we will commit to:

• Transparency: Honesty and clarity about what decisions and realities are set in stone, and what decisions the community has influence over. 
• Equity: Prioritizing the voices of communities that will be the most heavily impacted by the decisions made, while making sure everyone has an opportunity to share feedback in the way that they can and want to—whether they have five minutes, an hour, or a day. 
• Demonstrating Influence: Showing the community at regular intervals how their feedback, opinions, and ideas shaped project outcomes. And, when we can’t address a major comment or issue, say why.