Note to self: Key West’s residential parking permits expire Oct. 31. All of them. Every year. No matter what month they were issued. Those permits (attached to our license plate numbers) grant us four hours of free parking each day at designated lots — IF we renew them every fall.
Clearly, I’d forgotten that part of the arrangement — my permit expired in October 2022. No wonder the city’s parking kiosks and convenient phone app kept demanding payment and belligerently ignoring the permit and plate numbers I entered. There was no bug in the “Passport” phone app. Every kiosk in the city wasn’t broken. My permit simply has been useless since Halloween 2022.
Following my free-parking defeat, sometimes I paid the requisite fee for an evening downtown. But often I rolled the dice.
Which brings us to the $50 parking ticket currently tucked above my car’s visor. Not only did it remind me to renew my permit (done), but it prompted a conversation among friends.
Happily, I wasn’t the only local who had stupidly paid multiple parking tickets — at 50 bucks a pop — rather than responsibly renewing my permit each October — for $39 a year. (The permit is a small price to pay, considering our visitors pay $5 an hour.)
It seemed a remedial lesson in residential parking options was in order.
A few friendly emails and a particularly helpful phone call with John Wilkins, the city’s parking director, brought me up to speed on the 7,849 residential permits that have been sold since the old ones expired in October. And as it turns out, 18% of all transactions at the lots that accept residential permits were made by residents redeeming their four free hours of parking.
In order to redeem your hours at a parking kiosk, touch the screen and then touch “More” to go to the next screen, which will show an option for Residential Parking. Enter your permit and plate number to start your hours. Or, even easier, download the Passport Parking app. Sign in your vehicle and select the location where you’re parking. The app will recognize your license plate number and automatically start your four free hours, Wilkins said. And if you need more than four hours, no worries. And no need to return to your car. Just open the app and pay for additional time beyond your four free hours.
There’s really no reason for me to ever get another parking ticket (or, as my husband Stan calls them, my “love letters from the city,” when he sees them in my car).
Who is eligible for a Residential Parking Permit?
- Full-time residents
- Key West property owners
- Active-duty military stationed in Key West (including Boca Chica)
- Seasonal residents here for four months or longer
- Vehicles registered to a business that has a City of Key West business license
Where can I park for free for four hours with a Residential Parking Permit?
- Park and Ride garage on Grinnell Street
- Main parking lot at the Key West Bight on Caroline Street
- Fire station parking lot at Simonton and Angela streets
- Smathers Beach
- Truman Waterfront Park
- Jackson Square lot behind the courthouse — weekends and evenings only
The permit also allows you to park in all spaces on local streets marked “Residential.”
For details and to apply online for permits, visit cityofkeywest-fl.gov and click on the Parking icon on the home page.
