There’s no denying it. Right now, parking in Downtown Boise is a headache. The amount of construction in the downtown core has greatly reduced the amount of street parking that’s available. If you’re lucky enough to find a spot? There’s a 50/50 chance there’s a no parking sign on the meter.
I’ll be honest. I’m not great at parallel parking, so searching for a spot isn’t a spot that I do often. I almost always duck into one of the downtown parking garages. My go-tos are the Capitol & Main Garage (aka Capitol Terrace) and the 9th & Front Garage (near The Warehouse Food Hall.)
One is always smooth sailing. The other? Well, let’s just say that the parking garage in BoDo has a reputation for testing your patience, especially when it comes time to pay and get out. It seems like every other time I park in that garage, there’s something wrong with my parking ticket.
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Either the machine can’t read it when I go to pay or the exit gate will keep taking and spitting the paid ticket out instead of raising the arm. But the time I’ll never forget? I had just left BoDo Cinema on a night where temperatures were in the teens. The kiosk took my ticket, my credit card, charged my bank account and wouldn’t give me my ticket back to get out of the garage…