Tinley Park is introducing a new parking system at its Metra commuter lots and raising the daily parking fee by 50 cents.
The village said it worked with the firm Total Parking Solutions to implement the electronic parking meter system, which will be available as of Monday, although the existing pay boxes won’t be removed until May 1.
The village said the new system is meant to make parking, and paying for it, more streamlined for commuters, and it will provide the village with real-time data tracking to allow for better management of parking spaces and resources.
The daily fee of $1.50 will increase to $2. The village said the parking rate hasn’t been raised since the 1990s.
The village said revenue from parking fees is intended to be the sole source of funding to pay for parking lot maintenance, but the village has had to subsidize the parking lot program from other funding sources over the years.
Parking at the commuter lots will continue to be free on weekends and after 10 a.m. on weekdays.
Commuters will be able to pay with cash, coin or credit card at a parking kiosk, or on an Apple or Android smartphone using the Passport Parking app.
Commuters will be able to exchange old parking tokens for credits on the new Passport parking app.
Applications and more information about making the exchange is available at tinleypark.org/parking. Hard copies of forms are also available at Village Hall, 16250 S. Oak Park Ave., or the village’s police station, 7850 W. 183rd St.
More information about the program is available by calling Village Hall at 708-444-5000 or emailing parking@tinleypark.org. Token trade-ins will be available until Jun 1, 2024.
Commuters are being encouraged to download the Passport app, and the village said that commuters will also need to include information about the parking lot zone for payments.
Individual lots at the Oak Park Avenue and 80th Avenue Metra stations are receiving five-digit zone numbers.
At the 80th Avenue stop, the north lot will have the zone number 60477 while the south lot will be 60478.
There are nearly 2,200 parking spaces between the two lots.
At the Oak Park Avenue station, the village operates multiple lots, each of which is getting a parking zone number.
Parking lot F, at 17220 67th Court, will be zoned 60476. It is often referred to as the Subway lot as it is just to the east of a Subway restaurant.
The north lot of the station along North Street will be zone 60475, and the south lot B to the west of the train station will be zoned 60474. That also includes parking spaces along Hickory Street to the west of the train station.
The south lot C that is to the east of the station will be zone 60479.
