Here are tips for locating parking

Finding a parking spot in downtown Madison or on the UW-Madison campus is a challenge at best, a frustrating headache at worst. It 's particularly difficult Monday through Friday during daytime business hours, or during special events. Here are some helpful hints to make the task a little easier.

Finding a parking spot in downtown Madison or on the UW-Madison campus is a challenge at best, a frustrating headache at worst. It 's particularly difficult Monday through Friday during daytime business hours, or during special events. Here are some helpful hints to make the task a little easier.

Downtown

There are about 7,500 parking spaces available in ramps, lots and on the street in downtown Madison.

The city provides over 5,000 spots in six ramps, seven lots and metered locations. The city also administers a variety of daily, monthly and annual permits, as well as a residential parking permit program.

All lots are metered and the ramps are a combination of metered and cashier-operated. The cost varies by location, time of day and whether there is a special event going on.

The hourly rates for downtown Madison 's various parking ramps and lots range between 50 cents and $1.10 per hour. The maximum evening and weekend rate in all downtown ramps is usually $3. For special events, some ramps have a $4 pay-on-entry fee.

Several city ramps downtown have pay-on-foot stations, which allow drivers to pay for parking before getting to their car. Some ramps also offer the option to pay at an exit station using a Visa or Mastercard.

Parking fee notices are issued to late-night parkers at some city ramps. These are not parking tickets, but notices of the amount due should there not be a cashier on duty when you leave.

Should you receive a notice and a cashier is not on duty, enclose the entrance ticket, notice and amount due and deposit in the yellow drop box located next to the cashier 's booth or send via mail.

If the cashier is on duty and you receive a notice, be sure to give the notice to the cashier.

If you fail to pay the notice within 10 days or do not enclose the entrance ticket, a fine will added and a failure to pay ticket will be issued by the Madison Police Department.

In addition to eight ramps and five lots, there are two Park & Walk areas in the downtown area: Langdon Street between Wisconsin Avenue and Henry Street, and the 600 block of Railroad Street, between Blair and Blount streets. These Park & Walk areas allow 10 hours of parking for only 50 cents an hour.

For residents, monthly and carpooling fees range between $75 and $133 for residents, depending on location; for nonresidents, the range is $85 to $156.

For more information, call 266-4761 or visit www.cityofmadison.com/parking.

On the street

Parking on some of Madison 's streets can be tricky. Parking often is restricted during certain days and times, such as on Regent and Monroe streets on UW football Saturdays. On other streets, there 's a parking lane one minute and the next it morphs into a driving lane to accommodate peak traffic hours. The best line of defense is to carefully read all parking signs.

Some areas of the city, especially near downtown and the campus, require residential parking permits to park on the street. Permits are valid from Sept. 1 to Aug. 31, and as the city 's Parking Utility Web site clearly points out: "A residential parking permit does NOT guarantee you a parking place. It allows you the right to park IF you find a parking space. ' ' There are requirements for obtaining a parking permit and not all residences are eligible.

UW-Madison

If it 's not necessary, don 't try to park on campus. While there are about 11,000 spaces available, most of those are by permit only for faculty and staff. Try walking, biking or taking the Madison Metro bus, which offers several free campus routes.

For visitors stopping by campus for a short time, there are metered parking spaces available around campus. Some of these meters have a 25-minute limit, and some offer 10 minutes free. Go to www.fpm.wisc.edu/smo/mapintro1.html for both an interactive and printable campus map.

Meters are strictly enforced. On the UW campus, you may not "replug ' ' a meter. You are limited when parking at a meter to the length of time of the meter.

Over 30 campus lots allow free parking from 4:30 p.m. to 7 a.m. and all day on the weekend. Restrictions may apply during special events.

A limited number of full-day and half-day parking permits for visitors are available through Transportation Services. Reserved daily permits for visitors are available by calling the Special Events Office at 262-8683.

For general UW-Madison parking information, call 263-6666 or go to www.fpm.wisc.edu/trans/parking. The main Transportation Services office -- 124 WARF Building, 610 Walnut St. -- is open from 7:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Winter parking

Madison enforces alternate side parking in the winter, which requires parking cars on the even-numbered side of the street (after midnight) on even days and vice versa between 1 and 7 a.m. In Madison, this period runs from Nov. 15 to March 15 and is in effect even if there is no snow.

There are two exceptions to these rules. The first exception is streets where parking is allowed only on one side. The other exception is the Downtown-Isthmus Snow Emergency Zone. In this area, the alternate side parking rules are in effect only when a snow emergency has been declared. For more information, call the Snow Emergency Hotline at 261-9111 or visit www.cityofmadison..com/streets/streeetSnow.cfm, where residents can sign up for the snow emergency e-mail list.

Or don't drive at all

Recent studies show just owning a car -- and not necessarily driving it -- costs $15 per day at minimum. Madison residents, especially those who live and work downtown, have the opportunity to eschew car ownership (and the parking headaches that goes with it) altogether thanks to Community Car.

A car-sharing program, Community Car has cars at 11 area locations, including on campus. Individual, family and business/nonprofit memberships are available. For more information, including rates, visit www.communitycar.com or call 204-0000.