SAN JOSE, Calif. ( KRON ) – It’s been about a week since a popular shopping district in San Jose started charging visitors for parking , and it hasn’t been a smooth rollout. Many customers at Santana Row say the fees and lines are all giving them a headache.
For most of Friday evening, KRON4’s crew at Santana Row saw cars lined up all the way down to one or two lower levels of the garage. Customers say the rollout of paid parking has left them confused, and some workers were seen just waving cars through the meters.
It’s the first full week of business since the meters were installed at San Jose’s high-end shopping destination. There are pay stations for the first time in history at Santana Row.
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“I respect them for making their money like that but I don’t like it,” one shopper said.
Santana Row said the new rules are because everywhere else in that part of town has paid parking, so customers would park for free at Santana Row to just shop elsewhere – leading to congestion. But now the new meters are causing even longer lines.