The Express Park program is a year long program aimed at making parking easier for Los Angeles downtown motorists. The LA Department of Transportation has begun installing high tech parking meters throughout the city that will allow motorists to pay with credit and debit cards as well as the traditional coin method. This network of meters will also be used to keep track of parked cars in real time, and will eventually be able to alert motorists to empty parking stalls. The program will feature adjustable parking rates, which will increase and decrease rates according to demand. The experimental programs goal is to encourage public transit and reduce pollution and congestion caused by motorists cruising the block in search of a parking place.

Los Angeles is developing ExpressPark in partnership with Caltrans and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, using $15 million in grants from the federal Department of Transportation and $3.5 million in city funds. The program is similar to one recently launched in San Francisco and will cover 5,500 on-street metered spaces and 7,500 unmetered public parking spaces in off-street, city-operated facilities. The areas you will see these meters popping up includes Civic Center, the central business district, Chinatown and Little Tokyo.