Parking fees are going up at Sarasota Bradenton airport. Here’s why
The Sarasota Manatee Airport Authority on Monday raised parking fees at Sarasota Bradenton International Airport and selected a planning firm to study the feasibility of building a parking garage.
In 2022, SRQ served a record 3.8 million passengers, breaking the previous record by nearly 700,000.
By adding new parking facilities, as well as temporary parking, the airport authority has increased total availability from 2,439 parking spaces to 4,428 spaces.
The increase in demand for vehicle parking at the airport impeded access to the short-term parking lot for the convenient pickup and drop-off of passengers at the airport, Piccolo said.
New parking fees
To encourage more use of long-term parking, the airport authority approved parking fee increases starting Feb. 1:
▪ The short-term parking rate will increase from a daily maximum of $19 a day to $25 a day. Neither the $2 rate for the first 40 minutes or the $2 charge for each additional 20 minutes will change.
▪ The long-term parking rate will increase from a daily maximum of $15 a day to $16 a day. Neither the $2 rate for the first 40 minutes or the $2 charge for each additional 20 minutes will change.
▪ The shade parking rate will increase from a daily maximum of $15 a day to $16 a day. Neither the $2 rate for the first 40 minutes or the $2 charge for each additional 20 minutes will change.
▪ Overflow lot A would increase from a daily maximum of $13 a day to $14 a day. Neither the $2 rate for the first 40 minutes or the $2 charge for each additional 20 minutes will change.
▪ Remote lots C, D and E would increase from a daily rate of $10 a day to $11 a day.
▪ The rate for the discount lot would increase from $5 a day to $6 a day.
A master plan
Monday, the Sarasota Manatee Airport Authority also set the wheels in motion to build a parking garage at the airport by selecting a planning company to study the parking situation.
When and where a parking garage might be built — in the short-term parking lot, the long-term parking lot, or elsewhere — is unknown.
But the airport authority selected InterVISTAS of Washington, D.C., as the preferred firm to prepare a master parking plan.
The airport staff will now try to hammer out a contract with InterVISTAS to proceed with planning. If the airport authority and InterVISTAS are unable to come to terms, airport officials would enter talks with the second-ranked firm, Walker Consultants of Tampa.
During the 2022 Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, SRQ opened additional parking lots to handle overflow passenger traffic, offering holiday discount parking at 8101 North Tamiami Trail with with shuttle service to the terminal.
SRQ also leased space from Circle K on former dog track property south of University Parkway to assist with overflow.
There seems to be no slackening of the pace of passenger growth.
“We are going to have more passenger seats in March than in the history of the airport,” Piccolo said Monday. “There is going to be a crunch here for awhile.”
SRQ has embarked on a major expansion project to handle its growing passenger traffic, ranging from adding a ground level terminal to adding a new baggage handling system.
