Golf cart parking experiment happening in downtown Ocean Springs. Is it working?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Ocean Springs allocated 38 downtown parking spots for golf carts and motorcycles
- City plans ordinance with tickets after center line and parking signs are installed
- Golf cart registrations surged in 2024, reflecting rising downtown popularity
A parking and traffic experiment in downtown Ocean Springs seems to be working, the city’s new mayor is pleased to say.
Mayor Bobby Cox said he’s gotten more calls in support than in opposition to the parking and traffic flow plan the city began using about a month ago. Ocean Springs has dedicated 38 premium parking spots on Government Street to golf carts and motorcycles.
The city wasn’t going for any specific number of parking spots for golf carts, which are increasingly popular in picturesque downtowns such as Ocean Springs and Bay St. Louis.
Instead, the point was to ease “pinch points” on bustling Government Street in the heart of the city’s tourist, shopping and entertainment district, said Cox, a former alderman who became mayor July 1.
The road is simply too narrow in some places for two lanes of traffic, coupled with parallel parking for vehicles on both sides. One business owner at the heart of the action said he sees a couple of side mirrors a week knocked off cars, particularly on weekends.
So, the city blocked off parking on one side of the street for golf carts in several locations, leaving the other side for vehicles. The golf-cart parking sections are in areas where the road narrows, or where the radius for turning is limited. The experiment is based on a 2022 traffic study.
“It’s all about the pinch points,” Cox said. “That’s what dictated the golf cart parking.”
Parking signs, ordinance being addressed
The solution seems sensible as the number of registered golf carts grows. Ocean Springs residents are buying carts, and tourists are renting them, to tool around downtown, where parking is free and not always easy to find. The mayor, who owns a barber shop with its own parking lot on Government near downtown’s east end, doesn’t want to see metered parking.
The reaction to the city’s latest plan has encouraged him and shown traffic flow can be improved without more drastic measures.
“It seems to me like it’s going well,” Cox said, Because of the positive response, the city has committed to a center line through downtown for Government Street, where motorists were previously left to decide how much of the road they should take up as they squeezed past oncoming traffic.
Once the center line is completed and designated parking signs arrive, the city plans to include the new parking configuration in an ordinance. At that point, motorists and golf cart drivers who park in the wrong spots will be ticketed. Right now, the city has no penalties for drivers who park in the wrong spots.
City officials are hoping motorists will begin to use the parking garage at os 1515 Downown, a new development with a hotel, food court and shops. Two floors of the three-story garage are available to the public. The mayor thinks signs directing people to the parking will help. The garage was mostly empty on a recent weekday.
Golf carts fill MS Coast downtowns
While golf cart parking wasn’t the point of the Government Street traffic shuffle, golf carts are growing in popularity. Every city in Mississippi’s three Coastal counties now allow golf carts.
They’ve proven most popular in small cities such as Bay St. Louis and Ocean Springs. Both cities have downtowns packed with shopping, entertainment and dining options. And both cities have downtown and residential streets cocooned from major roads where golf carts can’t travel.
Ocean Springs registered 43 golf carts when they became legal for the second half of 2018. Registration numbers stayed at 311 a year or below through 2023. But in 2024, 915 golf carts were registered. The number has jumped to 921 so far this year.
Bay St. Louis has registered 4,057 golf carts since they became legal there in 2018. The city has 1,621 golf carts registered so far this year.
“Truth be told, it’s a convenience,” said part-time Ocean Springs resident Michael Murray, who likes driving his cart downtown. “It’s harder to find parking for a vehicle than it is for a third of a vehicle.”
The police chiefs of Bay St. Louis and Ocean Springs say golf carts haven’t posed much problem from a law enforcement perspective. In Bay St. Louis, the biggest complaint is underage drivers.
Ocean Springs police Chief Steven Dye said his department’s biggest issue has been golf cart drivers venturing onto roads where the speed limit is higher than 30 mph — where they are not allowed. The carts can cross U.S. 90, for example, but not drive on the highway.
“It started out small and has grown to a very popular mode of transportation,” Dye said.
This story was originally published September 30, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
