Nashville Parking Meters,Towing and more

Metered Parking Spaces
While walking down Second Ave. I counted no less than 20 signs, the ones with the steel poles and metal signs, most of which telling you the same thing over and over-something to the effect "that your car will be towed if you park between these hours. Trust me they will be towed, downtown workers will attest to the fact of see these tow trucks essentially lining up to tow your vehicle during these hours.
What this means basically is that you can not park at certain meters, even if you pay, between the morning hours of 7-9 am and afternoon hours of 4-5:30 pm. The meters don't state this fact but there are several dozen signs on each city block that state this.
But the meters also fail to tell you that according to legislation passed by the Metro Council, it's free to park at all 900 parking meters on Saturdays and Sundays and weeknights after 6pm, with the exception of the bagged meters.

What exactly is a Bagged Meter?
When you see a parking meter that is bagged, covered with a leather type cover, this means that a local downtown company has Pre-bought the parking space. It has been reserved for the companies use only. And believe me some of these companies have pre bought a lot if metered parking spaces for months at a time. Do not park at these you will be towed.

Who's parking in all those metered spots?
Jennifer Kraus and Gene Ward made an appearance on the Morning Show on channel 50 last year regarding the current status and abuse of the handicap placards.
According to Gene Ward Former director of public works there are 900 metered parking spaces in the downtown area with about 1500 total in the Nashville area and of those 900 downtown metered spaces there are 400 of them being used on a daily basis just on the metered parking spots, by placard holders. And 200 per day are being used in the metro parking lots. When I say daily, this means all day long 8-10hours.

The intense investigation by Jennifer showed the relative ease in which you can obtain these handicap placards and that most of the abuse is coming from government workers that are basically to lazy to park in the metro lots provided to them at no cost- thus leaving only 500 available metro meters to the general public. These abusers were watched in this investigation over a number of days. As well as some of the government employees, whose jobs require multiple daily car trips, were automatically issued these handicap placards. The loss of revenue by this abuse is close to 400,000 per year to metro. Not to mention the loss of revenue to downtown businesses. By only offering downtown visitors the option of parking in these privately run lots at a higher cost, they are more likely not to go into the downtown area at all.
*We contribute the above investigation to the recent implementation of the hefty fines now given to those using Handicap Placards illegally.

Handicap Parking
You will have to admit Tennessee takes care of their handicapped citizens. According to state law: If handicapped parking spots are available, all cities and counties in the state are obligated to provide free parking to handicapped persons displaying an official handicapped symbol on a vehicle. Locally this includes parking in Metro or state garages during working hours. Parking in any of the Nashville International Airport lots and as mentioned above at any metered parking space.

Got a ticket?
There are two types of "tickets". One is issued by a private lot (parking fee) and one by a metro official (the real deal). Both can be paid by mail. If you find a ticket has been placed on your car by a metro official it is best to immediately relocate your car to a legitimate parking spot. If you get a ticket in privately run lot this is essentially a parking fine and you can leave your car parked in it's place, although I would say if possible move it to another spot in the same lot and pay the parking fee again. (For more details look under Private Lots)

Car Towed?
If you get towed, the tow-in lot is located at 11 Russell Street. Their phone number is 615- 862-7800, and gratefully, they are open 24 hours a day. The minimum fee to release an impounded car is $45.00 and most of the fines are at least $25.00. They accept Cash Only; so make sure to bring cash with you.