Parking Pilot Outcomes

Results from the library's summer parking pilot show little impact on furthering goals identified in last year's master planning process. 

As part of a recommended pilot project from the 2025 Library Master Plan, library patrons were provided an additional free hour of parking from June 1 to Aug. 31, 2026. The parking pilot, funded by the Rochester Public Library Foundation and Friends of the Rochester Public Library donations, aimed to see if additional validated parking would increase use of and access to the library.  

The results for the parking pilot were presented to the Rochester Public Library Board of Trustees at its Oct. 21 meeting. Library Director Karen Lemke walked the board through pilot program use and survey results.  

More than 1,100 patrons took part in the parking pilot with the majority of checkouts coming from existing library users. However, 90% of users used three or fewer passes during the pilot timeframe. About 65% used a parking pass only once. The average length of stay was about one hour and 44 minutes. About 85% of those surveyed say two-hour parking is sufficient for their needs. Of those who did not participate in the pilot, about 1/3 said they didn’t need a full hour.  

Sixty-six percent of participants visited the library with their extra hour of parking to browse materials (44%), visit the youth area (23%), or attend library programming (17%). The parking pilot largely benefited existing high-use library users and had less impact on residents that have lower library use.  

Community feedback previously cited access to the library from the Civic Center parking ramp as a barrier, as well as the costs associated with parking downtown. Although the City offers free ramp parking if in and out in under an hour, library users find it to be challenging to park, get into the library, attend a program or peruse materials, and exit the ramp in under an hour.  

Based on the pilot, RPL plans to focus on other Library Master Plan initiatives that will have greater community impact. These include: renovations to the downtown library, holds pickup at partner locations, and future satellite branch locations. While extended free parking won’t continue, parking will remain free for the first hour as previously offered at the Civic Center parking ramp.   

Learn more about the parking pilot recommendation in the Library Master Plan.