How to park in Balboa Park for free or cheap(er)

For decades, paid parking in San Diego’s crown jewel, Balboa Park, has been a contentious topic.

Back in the 2000s, Qualcomm founder Irwin Jacobs and others tried to marshal the city’s political might into backing a paid-parking garage, which would have been entered a bifurcated iconic Laurel Street bridge above state Route 163, but the dominos began to fall for the plan when the city’s Rules Committee, which was critical of a contract outlining the Plaza de Panama parking plan submitted a vote of “no confidence” in the project.

Now, though, what a billionaire could not do an unbalanced budget has accomplished. On Monday, in an effort to close a $250 million-plus funding gap, the city began to charge to park in the park, but not in an easily understandable, one-size-fits-all way. Instead, visitors to the park are confronted by a thicket of alternatives.

In an effort to make sense of it all, here is a guide on how to park in Balboa Park (pardon the redundancies):

Pay in person

The city says there are 50 kiosks sprinkled around the park where you can pay in person. However, the machines don’t differentiate between city residents and out-of-towners, instead charging full boat to whoever walks up. Their only alternatives: Full day or half a day.

The city says that efforts are being undertaken to offer city residents their reduced rate at the kiosks but there is no date for implementation.

Correction: The Park Smarter app that the city uses for meters throughout the city can be used at kiosks.

Pay online

San Diego residents can go online here to register their vehicle (singular), which will cost $5 and officials expect to take up to two days to process.

Once you’re registered, you’ll pick your lot “tier” and date and go from there.

And, yes, you’ll have to do this every time you go to the park unless you may for extended passes (see “City of San Diego resident parking” section below).

Enforcement

What happens if you’re caught parking in a lot you did not pay for? What happens if you paid for three hours in Lower Inspiration Point and you get caught for being there longer? What if your UNREGISTERED vehicle is found in a parking lot and has not paid.

City spokeswoman Leslie Wolf Branscomb told NBC 7 that under all of these scenarios, the driver will be ticketed.

“This would be considered a violation of metered zone, which is a $42.50 ticket with an $11 state-mandated surcharge, for a total ticket price of $53.50,” Wolf Banscomb said in an email. “The cost of the tickets won’t change for different lots.”

Free parking

Speaking of half a day, that’s NOT on offer in the Lower Inspiration Lot. Where’s that? SOUTH of President’s Way off Park Boulevard near the naval hospital.

Instead, San Diego city residents AND out-of-towners are being offered three free hours — but only if they “pay” for it online. If they exceed the three hours and get noticed by a parking enforcement officer’s license-plate reader, they’ll be get a parking ticket.

The catch: There are only 951 spots in that lot, and 150 are supposed to be “reserved” for students at the nearby San Diego High at newly painted orange curbs (more on that later). So, theoretically, any of the county’s 3 million-plus residents and tourists looking for free parking may be competing for those 800 spots.

Or, hey, get an annual zoo membership for as little as $99 and park for free in the zoo lot ($10 bucks cheaper for seniors).

Handicapped plate and placard holders can still park for free in designated spots.

Zoo parking

“Complimentary parking at the San Diego Zoo is offered to San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance members, and it is valid for one vehicle per active adult member,” according to the zoo. You’ll have to register your vehicle on the zoo’s website.

You can swap out which car is registered with little fuss, the zoo’s site says.

Annual zoo memberships can be purchased for as little as $99 and members can park for free in the zoo lot (membership is $10 bucks cheaper for seniors).

Non-members parking at the zoo lot will have to pay $16 to park for the day.

City of San Diego resident parking

San Diego residents can pay half as much as non-residents to park at Balboa Park lots, so long as they pay $5 to register their vehicle ahead of time online, which can take up to two days for processing, and pay online for parking. Drivers must go online to pay to park EVERY time they go to the park.

Here’s how much it costs to park in the different lots for residents:

• Level 1 lots: Space Theater, Casa de Balboa, Alcazar, Organ Pavilion, Palisades, Bea Evenson and South Carousel — verified resident rate is $5 for up to four hours or $8 full day

• Level 2 lots: Pepper Grove, Upper Inspiration Point, Marston Point and Federal — verified resident rate is $5 per day
• Level 3 lot: Lower Inspiration Point — verified resident rate is free for the first three hours or $5 for a full day

Residents can also pay $30 for a monthly pass, $60 for three months or $150 for a year.

Residents can pay to park using a kiosk, but, at least for now, discounted rates are not yet offered via the machines.

Non-city of San Diego resident parking

• Level 1 lots: Space Theater, Casa de Balboa, Alcazar, Organ Pavilion, Palisades, Bea Evenson and South Carousel — nonresident rate is $10 for up to four hours or $16 for the full day
• Level 2 lots: Pepper Grove, Upper Inspiration Point, Marston Point and Federal — nonresident rate is $10 per day
• Level 3 lot: Lower Inspiration Point — nonresident rate if free for the first three hours free or $10 full day

Out-of-towners can also pay $40 for a monthly pass, $120 for three months or $300 for a year.

Non-residents can also use kiosks to pay in person.

Employee, volunteer parking

Workers at the park, as well as registered volunteers, are being given passes to park for free. Bonus: The parking fees will pay for a pair of shuttle buses to pick them up on demand from 7-9 a.m. and from 6-11 p.m. to take them to and from their vehicles, which will have to be parked in Level 2 or 3 lots.

Parking meters

Many of the streets inside and the adjoining the park were also once free to park, but that’s over too. The drivers of cars at those meters now have to shell out $2.50 and hour. See the map below for where. There’s no discount for residents.

The green tram

So now that you paid to park, how are you going to get to your destination? Well, there’s always walking. Want to park in the free lot in Lower Inspiration Point? That’s 0.7 miles to the Museum of Art, about 15 minutes walk. Or, you could take the tram, which will drop you in the plaza nearby instead.

The tram runs about every 10-15 minutes and will take up riders up to the Prado from the Inspiration Point and makes stops at a couple parking lots along the way.

Handicapped parking

Bearers of blue handicap plates or placards can still park for free around the park in designated areas.

San Diego High School

One hundred and fifty parking stalls in the Lower Inspiration Point lots (out of 951 total) are supposed to be “reserved” for students at the nearby San Diego High at newly painted orange curbs. However, since the city can’t legally reserve them, anyone can park there, which will certainly seem likely if those 800 “free” spots fill up.