CINCINNATI — Have you ever been downtown and wanted to grab a cup of coffee, but you didn't want to pay for parking?
Well, you don't have to.
All of Cincinnati's "lollipop" parking meters allow an initial 10 minutes of parking for free. To do so, you simply need to push the green "OK" button on the meter once you park.
The 10 free minutes first began in 1998 in the downtown business district, but was expanded to all lollipop meters citywide in 2019. While this trick works with the classic "lollipop" meters, the complimentary minutes do not work on the multi-spot parking kiosks that line some city streets or parking lots.
There is a caveat to the free minutes, too. The 10 minutes will be erased if or when payment is added to the meter. So if after 5 minutes, you decide to extend your parking for longer, you're not getting the last complimentary 5 minutes added to your meter.
You also can't add the 10 free minutes onto the end of your allotted time once you've paid for it.
Bottom line, once money is involved, you cannot also enjoy the complimentary minutes at that meter.
It's a helpful trick for those running quick errands around the city or grabbing take out. With this tip, you don't need to dig around in your wallet for quarters or fumble through your phone for the Cincinnati parking app — simply push the green button.
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