Binghamton’s 11-year-old alternate-side parking regulations have changed — and that means residents, including BU students who live off campus, will have until Dec. 1 to move their cars.

The rules require residents to move their cars to the “even” side of the street on even-numbered days and the “odd” side for odd-numbered days. For example, on December 22 cars would need to be parked in front of the side of the street with 14 Lincoln Ave., and not 13. Until recently, this practice was enforced from Nov. 1 through Apr. 1.

But Binghamton’s City Council voted Oct. 3 to shorten the period of alternate-side parking. The vote, which took effect Oct. 14, now has the parking rules in effect from Dec. 1 through Mar. 15, giving residents an extra month and a half of worry-free parking.

Accordingly, the signs at the city’s edges declaring the parking rules will need to be replaced, said City Clerk Eric Denk. Because the city council vote came so close to the original beginning of alternate-side parking, though, officials may be left scrambling to get all of the 70-plus signs changed on time.

But mayor Richard Bucci said the signs currently in place could suffice until replacements could be fabricated, as they are more inclusive than necessary, which is in keeping with the law.

Changing them won’t be the only way the city plans to reach out to city residents, including the BU students sprinkled throughout Binghamton’s nine districts.

“The city will run an aggressive public information campaign of its own,” he said, a media campaign that will include news releases, fliers and radio advertisements. Some of it, he said, will be targeted at BU students.

“Sometimes students get caught in the information void,” he said.

Bucci said that the city was considering a one-week grace period starting Dec. 1, in which police would place warning fliers on cars that would normally be ticketed under alternate-side regulations.

Regardless of start date, enforcement has always been based around a premise Denk called “park for tomorrow.”

This means that residents must move their cars by 5 p.m. the evening before the odd or even day they’re adhering to. This effectively puts parking in the city on a 24-hour schedule running from five to five, with enforcement for the day beginning the eveing before.

It was unclear whether enforcement would start at 5 p.m. Nov. 30 or Dec. 1.