SeeCalifornia.com

CARMEL BY THE SEA, CALIF. — Just when other popular cities are giving guests free parking for the holidays to assure that they’ll spend money in the downtown districts, Carmel is doing the opposite by charging people to park beginning December 1, 2014. It seems like parking is always hard to come by during the daylight hours when beaches beckon and shops are open in Carmel, so the city has decided to tackle the issue by installing the new electronic, wi-fi enabled meters made by Digital Payment Technologies. Between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. daily the city is charging $2 per hour to park with a maximum of 4 hours. There are 10 pay stations along Ocean Avenue between Junipero and Monte Verde streets that accept credit cards, smartphone payment through Parkmobile and U.S. currency. You must enter your license plate number when paying for parking and do not have to put a paper receipt on your dashboard as proof of payment. Parking fines in downtown Carmel are around $30 currently.