CARTA officially took over downtown parking enforcement Sunday.
Instead of police officers, six to eight ambassadors wearing green polo shirts will be working to check the parking meters. They will be available to answer any questions, and explain downtown to tourists who need help finding locations. CARTA believes that this will be a friendlier approach. The agency also kicked off its hospitality program. Brent Matthews, Director of Parking said, "We have five locations throughout town for the hospitality employees and restaurant employees. Discounted parking for them. Trying to free up some of the meter spaces for the folks that are coming downtown to visit. We are glad to be able to offer that. We are also running a hospitality shuttle in the evenings from 10pm to 4am." CARTA says the shuttle late at night will provide safety to those employees.
