Bethesda weekend parking: Still free, still too crowded

Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett wants to increase parking tickets to help close the County's $800 million budget gap. If the County is looking for parking revenues, it should also look at its overflowing weekend parking in Bethesda.

Photo by Daquella manera.

There are two public parking lots most convenient to most shops in Bethesda: the surface lot at Woodmont and Bethesda Avenues, and the garage inside Bethesda Row with entrances on Elm Street and Bethesda Avenue. Nearby are many pay garages charging $7 for an evening, but the public garages are free, even on busy Saturday nights.

As you might expect, the Woodmont lot is always full on weekends. Any time I've tried to park there, there are typically 3-4 other cars circling around looking for spaces. As soon as someone gives up, someone else comes in. In the garage, it's almost as bad during the day, and just as bad at night. Worse yet, the garage gets backed up with traffic from drivers crawling up the ramps and then, in some cases, right back down again.

SOURCE: Greater Greater Washington