How to dispute an incorrect parking ticket in Austin

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Ever receive a citation after paying for parking around Austin? City transportation officials said it's not uncommon for the occasional slip-up to happen, but there are remedies for it.

KXAN received a tip earlier this week from a driver who paid for parking along Congress Avenue earlier this month, only to receive a citation minutes after her paid parking period took effect.

"Sometimes, some things get missed, and we always like to tell the public that, you know, we're not perfect. But at the end of the day, we're here to work with them," said Joseph Al-Hajeri, Austin Transportation and Public Works' parking enterprise division manager. "If things do come up, we're happy to help and happy to get the right resources to them so that if it is a wrongfully issued citation, we're going to have those dismissed."

Paid parking additions to South Congress

Paid on-street parking is a more recent addition to the South Congress Avenue corridor, after Austin City Council established a parking and transportation management district (PTMD) there in March 2023. That led to the implementation of paid parking, beginning last September.

Since that initial activation, Al-Hajeri said a secondary rollout has focused on parking changes to side streets adjacent to South Congress. That implementation involved residential and paid parking hybrid signs, to signify the new zone.

Creating a PTMD can serve as a way of mitigating long stays on the street. For an entertainment and shopping district like South Congress, the switch-up can encourage drivers to use on-street parking for short-term trips and area garages and lots for longer stays, Al-Hajeri said.

That philosophy is one city officials have applied, after conducting multiple studies on the abundance of available off-street parking in Austin versus its usage.

"The reason most of the time [off-street garages and lots] don't get used is because our streets are not managed," Al-Hajeri said. "You don't have an incentive mechanism to put people into those garages."

He added that while revenue streams from paid parking aren't the primary goal, funding accrued does help invest in improvements to the surrounding community through improvement projects for sidewalks, lighting, street fixtures and other upgrades. It also helps pay for more enforcement staff to assist with monitoring parking and bike lanes as well as working festivals or other specialty city events.

How to contest an incorrect parking citation

For anyone who is incorrectly cited after paying for parking, they can submit a customer service request with Austin 3-1-1 or by emailing ATDEnforcement@austintexas.gov or Parking@austintexas.gov. Customers can also contest the citation at Austin Municipal Court.

In the case brought to KXAN this week, an Austin Transportation and Public Works spokesperson confirmed it was an incorrect citation, and that it had been dismissed.

"Parking is a customer service based system," Al-Hajeri said. "And we want to make sure that we're giving you the best customer service we can to the public and providing a seamless system as they travel through our mobility system."