With data from JustPark Insights, Boulder introduced demand-based parking pricing for the first time, charging more where demand is highest to keep spaces turning over and cut down on drivers circling for a spot.

The City of Boulder, Colorado, manages paid on-street parking across a busy downtown anchored by the Pearl Street Mall. On the most popular blocks, the problem is a familiar one: spaces fill up, turnover slows and other drivers circle looking for a spot. Using data from JustPark Insights, the city introduced demand-based parking pricing for the first time, with higher rates where demand is highest.

The challenge

Before JustPark, Boulder had no method for tracking parking data. What the city knew about how people parked was anecdotal.

Paid parking rates were set without context, so some blocks could have been priced too high and others too low, with no way to tell which. The city had no clear view of where people parked most, or when.

Planning suffered too. Without historical data, the city couldn’t anticipate future parking needs or build a case for rate changes, and busy blocks stayed busy while drivers circled for a space.

The solution

In October 2016, Boulder partnered with JustPark to start measuring parking and mobility behavior across the city. JustPark Insights brings parking data from different systems into a single view, so the city’s Parking & Access team can see utilization block by block instead of as a citywide average.

As the data built up, the picture became clear, showing which downtown blocks ran at high utilization and which had capacity to spare. The team could see where a rate increase would encourage turnover, and where a lower rate or a change in curb use might make more sense.

When the city was ready to introduce demand-based pricing for the first time, the Parking Department used that utilization history to recommend an updated on-street rate structure, with higher rates on the busiest blocks.

The thinking was simple. When the most in-demand spaces cost a little more, drivers are more likely to park, do what they came for and move on. That frees up spaces for the next visitor and means fewer cars circling downtown looking for parking.

The outcomes

• Years of block-level utilization data informed the city’s rate recommendation

• Boulder’s first demand-based parking rates

• Every on-street location moved to a new, higher minimum hourly rate

• The busiest blocks now carry a premium rate, about 33% above the standard on-street rate, to encourage turnover

• Rate decisions moved from estimates to measured demand

“Working with JustPark has been vital to the successful implementation of this project. Based on the data we have access to and the software’s analytical tools, we can be confident we’re making intelligent decisions that benefit our community.”

– Samantha Bromberg, Project Manager, City of Boulder

A win for everyone downtown

Demand-based pricing works because what’s good for the city is also good for drivers visiting downtown.

• For the city: Rates grounded in measured demand instead of guesswork, and a plan strong enough to win the City Council’s approval.

• For drivers: More turnover on the busiest blocks means a better chance of finding a space close to where they’re headed.

• For traffic: Cars pull in and out of spaces instead of crawling around the block, which means less congestion around the Pearl Street Mall.

• For local businesses: When spaces turn over, more visitors can park, shop and eat downtown over the course of a day.

• For the community: Parking revenue goes back into city projects that benefit residents.

It’s also a model the city can keep refining. Around the Pearl Street Mall, Boulder planned to raise rates on the surrounding blocks and then measure how parkers responded, using the same data to judge whether the change was working.

How Insights has grown alongside Boulder

Insights looks very different today from the platform Boulder started with in 2016, shaped by long-standing municipal partners like Boulder whose everyday questions it’s now built to answer.

• Where is demand highest? Real-time occupancy and utilization heatmaps by hour and day of week show peaks at a glance.

• What should the rate be? The Pricing Optimizer AI Agent analyzes pricing elasticity and recommends rate adjustments by time window and user segment.

• What will a change do? The ROI Calculator models the revenue impact of a proposed change against historical data, before it reaches council.

• Did it work? Period comparisons and the Revenue Diagnostician break results down into volume, price and mix, while the Anomaly Scanner flags significant shifts in parker behavior.

• What’s coming next? Occupancy forecasts at 3, 7 and 14 days, with confidence intervals that account for seasonality and day-of-week patterns.

An AI Assistant also answers plain-English questions and cites the data behind every answer, and AI-written reports export straight to Word or PowerPoint for council memos. With 65+ vendor integrations, cities can connect existing meters, pay stations, mobile payments and enforcement systems without replacing anything.

Get in touch

Get in touch to learn more about how JustPark can help your city make smarter, data-backed parking decisions. Fill out the form below to book a demo.