As of July 2014, the privately owned parking garage at the Burlington Town Center mall discontinued it’s ‘first two hours are free’ promotion followed by in an increase for hourly parking at the City of Burlington’s their new parking meters which, accept credit card payments, in October.
While the City of Burlington hopes that revenue from the increase in parking will pad Burlington’s traffic fund which could be used for much needed repairs to the parking garages, the increase in parking costs could lead to a decrease in shoppers in the area due to unwillingness to pay for parking. The concern is that patrons would be deterred from the areas shops and resources and seek out more convenient locations or do more purchasing online to avoid the additional fees incurred by parking.
For more information, check out the Parking Always a Premium opinion piece on the Burlington Free Press newspaper website.