Tobias Marx, parking services division manager with the city of Bend, discusses the new digital parking sign technology in December.

We regret to inform you that we can’t make parking easier in Bend.

But we do know Bend’s Mr. Parking, Tobias Marx, the city’s parking service division manager. And he is about solving parking problems with enthusiasm that is, well, rare. So when we got a letter from a reader about parking in downtown Bend that had some questions that we think other readers may wonder about too, we turned to Marx.

Here is Carolyn Robinson’s letter:

“I’m confused about the new street parking zone signs downtown. Most are marked Zone 8020 or 8023, but none of my parking apps recognize those numbers (I have 3 different apps). I’ve asked several shop clerks about the parking situation and get a variety of answers: “I don’t know; It’s free parking for 2 hours; Be sure to pay, or you’ll get a ticket; etc.” I’ve also searched the city website to no avail.

Can anyone give me an answer? What are the parking rules downtown, and why don’t the zone numbers show up on the apps? I’m confused!”

Marx has some answers.

On-street downtown parking is generally two hours in the posted spots. You will find some places where it is only 15 minutes, so watch out for that.

The zones were basically added so people couldn’t hog a spot and then move to a spot nearby and evade the intended time limits.

“The — still on the books — 750-feet rule requires people to move their car by 750 feet when the time limit is up,” Marx told us in an email. “We found it is hard for parkers to know where, or how far to go. To make that easier, the signs now state ‘2 hours per zone’ and the zone number was added to communicate in what zones people are parked.

The mobile apps will include these zones hopefully by the end of this week and communicate that ‘parking is free for the posted time-limit.’ ”

There’s more information here: tinyurl.com/BendMrparking and there’s a map here: tinyurl.com/Bendparkingmap.

We hope that helps you, Carolyn, and everyone else.