By Chris Everett
Ocean City, Maryland is a beautiful place to visit, whether for a longer stay or just for the day. With such beauty, though, comes many visitors and thus, fewer available parking spaces. In an effort to make your Ocean City stay as fun and stress-free as possible, follow these tips for easier Ocean City parking.
1. Pay and Park More Conveniently with ParkMobile
Ocean Cityโs paid parking season runs from April 1 to October 31, and since Ocean City parking can get crowded in those months, Ocean City uses the ParkMobile parking app, an easy-to-use mobile application that you can download to your phone or visit on your computer to view real-time parking information on available spaces.
Though you can’t reserve parking ahead of time in Ocean City, with the app, you can pay for parking using your mobile device and even get reminders when your meter is getting low. You can use ParkMobile in Ocean City to pay for parking on municipal pay streets and in municipal pay lots as well as in metered parking spaces.
To use the app in Ocean City, all you have to do is download the app and enter the information on posted meters where you want to park. You can use ParkMobile to search for parking, pay for parking and even add more time if youโve already paid but are running late to your meter.
ParkMobile also offers services all over the United States, so once you have the app after visiting Ocean City, you can use it in other areas and sometimes even reserve parking in advance.
2. Use the West Ocean City Park & Ride
The West Ocean City Park & Ride is a great option for visitors staying in West OC and those hoping to avoid traffic. You can find the West Ocean City Park & Ride west of the Rt. 50 drawbridge, where there are over 700 parking spaces for free and a shuttle bus that will take passengers from the parking location to Tanger Outlets in West OC or the South Division Street Transit Center for the cost of $3 per passenger per day. If youโre a frequent visitor to Ocean City, you can even grab coupon books with 20 shuttle ride tickets for $15 available at City Hall on 3rd St.
3. Prepare Ahead of Time
The best way to park painlessly in Ocean City and ensure you’re not driving around downtown aimlessly on an especially crowded summer day, is to know your parking plan before you leave the driveway or hotel parking lot.
If you’re a visitor looking for specific parking information for Ocean City — like how many spaces are in certain parking areas and where to find handicapped accessible parking — just visit the OceanCity.com parking page. There, you can get comprehensive information about Ocean Cityโs parking protocols, where to find the best parking and how much you can expect to pay.
New to Ocean City in 2018 are Pay-by-Plate parking meters throughout town and in the Inlet parking lot. Many visitors have expressed concern over not knowing how to use the new meters, but as you can see in the step-by-step video below, they’re actually super easy to use.
You will notice that parking in Ocean City is not terribly expensive, with parking available for $2 an hour, one hour free for handicapped parking, in municipal lots and paid street parking spaces and $3 an hour with the first 30 minutes free at the Inlet Parking Lot downtown.
