KINGS BEACH

Placer County continues to advance its North Lake Tahoe Parking Management Program with three goals in mind: reduce congestion, improve safety, and encourage visitors and residents to choose public transportation over single-occupancy vehicles.

The county has been gathering parking data over the past two years to tailor lessons learned and improve the program moving forward. Emphasizing community education, data-driven decision-making and highlighting the benefits of parking enforcement officers has helped make this program a success. 

To better understand parking demand and usage patterns, data was collected across Kings Beach from June 2 through Sept. 30, using the program’s technology platforms. This range included peak summer weekends and holidays. 

The data revealed the following:

• The Christmas Tree lot recorded an average occupancy of 59%, up from 52% during the 2024 paid parking demonstration.
• Brook Avenue maintained a slightly higher average occupancy of 62%.
• Peak occupancy for both lots generally occurred around midday.
• Saturday afternoons consistently recorded the highest utilization, with an average peak occupancy of 80%, and multiple lots and adjacent on-street areas reaching or exceeding the 85% occupancy threshold.

For comparison, the 2024 paid parking demonstration saw peak average occupancy on Friday afternoons at 71%.

In addition to the Flowbird pay stations available at each paid parking lot, the county launched a text-to-pay feature, which will go live in 2026 to further enhance accessibility and convenience for visitors. This option allowed users to complete parking transactions directly from their mobile phones by texting a designated code.

The county also introduced a short-term hourly parking rate this past year to better accommodate brief visits and support nearby commercial activity. The evening flat rate was reduced from $5 to $2 for parking sessions after 5 p.m. and a Spanish-language option was added to pay stations to promote more equitable access.

For more information about the program, visit the county’s Parking Management Program web page.

~ Placer County press release