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Parking at Meters

The City of Urbana has parking meters and issues parking tickets for parking violations.

Meter Enforcement

Except for on official City holidays, the City enforces parking rules as follows:

  • Downtown from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. 
  • Parking deck from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. 
  • Downtown rental spaces from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, excluding Lot 12, which is enforced from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and any 24/7 rental.
  • Campus area spaces from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

Each meter displays the hours of enforcement inside the dome of the meter. An arrow on the meter points toward the corresponding parking space to help users determine which meter belongs to which space on a double-headed meter. For single spaces, the meter is located at the front of the space.

Parking meters are not enforced on the following official City holidays:

  • New Year's Day

  • Martin Luther King's Birthday

  • Spring Day (Good Friday)

  • Memorial Day

  • Independence Day   

  •  Labor Day

  • Veterans Day

  • Thanksgiving Day

  • Friday After Thanksgiving

  • Christmas Day

Meter Rates
Campus Area

Meters in the campus area are color-coded by the length of time available on the meter. Red is 30 minutes or less, blue is two hours, and gray is 10 hours. Meters in the campus area have a rate of $1.25 per hour.

Downtown Area

Black meters in the downtown area vary in the available time lengths on the meter. They have a rate of 50 cents per hour.

Hospital Area

All meters around Carle Clinic and Carle Hospital are gray in color and have a rate of $1.25 an hour.

Parking Garage

Parking in the municipal garage at 100 West Main Street is available for 25 cents per hour for the first two hours and 50 cents for each additional hour.

Short-Term Meters

Short-term meters (15 or 30 minutes) are installed in certain high-traffic areas, such as the U.S. Post Office and in front of coffee shops and bakeries.

Unmetered Spaces

There are no free, unmetered parking spaces in areas where meters are located. If a space does not have a meter or has a post but no meter, it is not a valid parking spot; parking in the space is illegal and may result in a ticket.

Multiple Tickets

Depending on the area of town, there is a limit on the number of parking tickets that a vehicle can receive.

Campus and Hospital Districts

Vehicles parked in these areas may receive one ticket for a parking violation between midnight and noon and one ticket from 12:01 p.m. to midnight. There must be at least two hours between the time that the first and second tickets are issued. 

Downtown District

Vehicles parked in these areas may receive two tickets for a parking meter violation between midnight and noon and two tickets from 12:01 p.m. to midnight. There must be at least two hours between tickets. 

For prohibited parking offenses there is no limit on the number of tickets a vehicle can receive.

Bagged Meters

Meters covered with a bag are marked restricted parking and are not available. Unauthorized vehicles parked in bagged meter spaces will be ticketed and towed.

Parking meters may be temporarily rented for unusual loading/unloading activities, repairs, remodeling, and other similar activities. A bag stating reserved parking is placed over each meter head.

Meter Bagging Fees

With 48 hours of notice, meter rental fees are:

$26 per meter per day on campus and at the hospital

$11 per meter per day downtown.

With less than 48 hours of notice, meter rental fees are:

$31 per meter for the first day and $26 per meter for each additional day on campus and at the hospital

$17 per meter for the first day and $11 per meter for each additional day downtown.

If the meter is rented through the weekend, fees will include Saturday. Specific Sunday rentals also include charges for Saturday.

Reservations begin at 7 a.m. on the first day of the agreement and end at 6 p.m. on the last day.

Reserving a Meter Bag

To reserve a meter, obtain the numbers for the meters that you want to rent (the five-digit number located on the head of the meter).

If any meters are double-headed, you must rent both spaces.

The Meter Reservation Request Form for either downtown or campus meters can be downloaded below.  Please email the completed form to ParkingMeters [at] Urbanaillinois.us (ParkingMeters[at]Urbanaillinois[dot]us)

The Meter Maintenance Office will contact you to let you know if the meters are available and confirm the rental.

Payment for renting/bagging a parking meter must be made in advance. After receiving confirmation that the meters are available, send payment to:

City of Urbana 

Human Resources and Finance Department
400 S. Vine St.
Urbana, IL 61801
217-384-2346

Meter Bagging Questions

For more information, email ParkingMeters [at] UrbanaIL.gov (ParkingMeters[at]UrbanaIL[dot]gov) or call 217-384-2314.

Multiple Vehicles in the Same Space

All vehicles parked within the lines indicating one parking space are subject to a ticket for an expired meter.