Pompano Beach Pier Parking Shuttle: Your Weekend Guide
October 15, 2026
October 15, 2026
As of this month, the easiest way to reach the Fisher Family Pier on a Saturday starts about two miles inland. The surface lot at 20 North Ocean Boulevard is closing so W Pompano Beach Hotel & Residences can be built there. To make up for it, the City of Pompano Beach started the free Fishing Village Shuttle on Friday, October 2. Its two Park & Ride lots are at City Hall on West Atlantic Boulevard and in Old Town.
That sounds like a temporary fix. Everything else points to a longer arrangement. The tower is years from finished. The city's only beach garage was already under heavy demand. A second garage that would add parking is still waiting on a deal. For at least the next couple of years, the shuttle is likely the main way into a pier weekend.
BH Group is developing the W project with Related Group on a 3.7-acre beachfront site at 20 North Ocean Boulevard. The plan calls for 373 condo and condo-hotel units. The developer's own page lists groundbreaking for the third quarter of 2026 and expects completion in 2028. Florida YIMBY reported in February 2026 that the building will be a 24-story tower. A Pompano Beach Insider article from October 1 gives 2027 for the tower's opening. The finish date is not settled, but a building that size will occupy the site for a long time.
Replacement parking is also uncertain. The Sun Sentinel reported on July 2, 2026 that the City Commission considered raising parking rates 20% in December 2025. Commissioners then put the increase on hold until the city reaches a deal on a new beachside structure called the Oceanside Garage. The same resolution would raise the resident parking discount from 20% to 50%. Commissioner Allison Fournier told the paper that the garage proposal the commission saw "was not the right answer, not the right solution, and not the right cost."
The research turned up no city notice adopting either change. So the beach has three ways in right now: the garage, metered street spaces and the shuttle. Each one has a different cost.
The Pier Parking Garage at 3460 NE 3rd Street has 609 spaces. Levels 2 through 4 are public self-parking, and level 1 is reserved for valet. On the city's parking locations page, you take a ticket when you enter, then pay at a kiosk or tap a card, Apple Pay or Google Pay when you leave. Here are the city's published rates for a four-hour beach visit, the length of a swim followed by lunch:
| Option | Weekday rate | Weekend rate | Four hours on a Saturday |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pier Parking Garage, levels 2–4 | $1.80/hr | $2.50/hr | $10.00 |
| Beachfront street parking, Zone 3 | $2.50/hr | $3.25/hr | $13.00 |
| Fishing Village Shuttle via Park & Ride | Holidays only, Mon–Thu | Free | $0 |
Holidays and event days cost more. The city parking code sets the garage holiday and event rate at $3.25 an hour. Beachfront street parking goes to $4 an hour on holidays. Residents who register get a 20% hourly discount through PayByPhone, and the registration has to be renewed every year. Under the code, that discount applies at city spaces paid by app except the Pier Garage, so it lowers the street rate and leaves the garage rate unchanged. The city's parking FAQ also says resident parking permits are suspended. These appear to be two separate programs.
On a Saturday, the street meters near the sand cost 30% more than the garage, and the garage costs $10 more than a free lot west of the Intracoastal. The free option takes a short ride.
The Fishing Village Shuttle is part of the city's existing Pompano Circuit, which is free and on demand. The city's September 16 announcement sets out a few rules worth knowing before your first trip:
The regular Circuit keeps running in its current blue-zone service area. The shuttle launched only eight days ago. No reports on ridership, wait times or rider reactions have been published yet. Three vehicles on a busy Saturday afternoon will be the real test, and it hasn't happened enough times yet to judge.
The shuttle drops riders at the pier, the center of the Fishing Village blocks along Pompano Beach Boulevard. The city tourism directory at visitpompanobeach.com lists these businesses near the drop-off:
The directory pages are undated, so check hours before you go. The list has already changed once. Pompano Beach Insider reported in January that the Cannoli Kitchen Pizza near the pier closed in late 2025.
One new business is coming to the A1A side. Sea Glass Venue, a private-events space owned by Galuppi's, is under construction at 116 N. Ocean Boulevard. As of October 1, it was booking events for 2026 and 2027 but had not announced an opening date. It sits on the same stretch of Ocean Boulevard as the W site, so that part of the beachfront will be under construction for some time.
The shuttle hours line up with this fall's city calendar. The Friday evening events are in Old Town, a short walk from one of the two Park & Ride lots.
Backyard Jam, Old Town. The free concert series runs 6 to 9 p.m. on three Fridays: October 16 with Relentless, November 20 with Mix Tape and December 18 with Indigo Dreamers. The shuttle runs until 10 p.m. on Fridays. On those three dates, a car parked at the Old Town lot can cover both an afternoon at the beach and the evening concert.
Drone show at the pier, Saturday, November 7. The city's Veterans Day weekend event runs from 5:30 to 9 p.m. The show itself is 7 to 7:15 p.m., with 500 drones from Firefly Drone Shows flying over the ocean just south of the pier. The pier closes during the event, and the city says it plans free shuttle service. This is the first large pier crowd since the W lot began closing. It will show how three Circuit vehicles and two inland lots manage an event-night crowd.
Community Park weekends. Two free Saturday events are scheduled at Community Park, 1801 NE 6th Street. Caribbean Fest runs October 17 from 5 to 10 p.m. Boo Bash runs October 24 from 4 to 9 p.m., with rides, food trucks, hay rides and a pumpkin patch. Neither depends on beach parking, which makes them the low-hassle weekend options this month.
Pompano Beach Amphitheater. CAKE plays Monday, October 26. BOYNEXTDOOR plays Sunday, November 1, and that show is listed as sold out.
Old Town is also changing. A September city redevelopment update describes Old Town Square as a $63 million mixed-use project with 282 apartments. The same update reports Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) support for turning The Vault into a restaurant and bar, and for kitchen and exterior upgrades at 26 Degrees. With one of the free beach lots now in Old Town, Old Town is becoming part of the beach trip.
If the W tower going up at 20 North Ocean Boulevard has you thinking about what the new beachfront means for your own property near the pier or in Old Town, Chuck Levine follows these Pompano Beach projects closely. Schedule a free consultation to talk through where things stand.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
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