The Seattle Times ‘Smart’ parking meters

Seattle’s lucrative parking pay stations are being replaced with smarter dispensers that can spit out different-priced window stickers depending on time of day.

The first new “###smart parking” stations were being installed Monday on Occidental Avenue South, near CenturyLink Field, followed by others across historic Pioneer Square in the next two weeks.

Rates in Pioneer Square’s retail core, centered at First Avenue and Yesler Way, will be $3 per hour from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m., then $4 per hour from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Current rates are $3.50 per hour all day.

Motorists can expect similar two-price arrangements in nearly all neighborhoods as the machines spread, said Mike Estey, parking-programs manager for the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT).

Next year they will spread to Ballard, Ballard Locks, Belltown, Cherry Hill, the Denny Triangle, First Hill, Fremont, Green Lake, Pike-Pine, Roosevelt, the University District, Uptown, Uptown Triangle, Westlake Avenue North along west Lake Union, and 12th Avenue near Seattle University.