Parking meter price hikes across most of Cambridge

For the first time in nearly 10 years, on-street parking in Cambridge just got a little pricier.

New parking meter rates rolled out Monday raised the price to park at most spaces by 25 cents, to $1.25 per hour.

The increase, the first since 2008, is part of a new pricing plan that sets rates based on demand. In hot spots like Harvard Square, the price to park will be $1.50 per hour. But in less popular areas, the hourly rate will remain at $1.00, according to the city.

“We worried we’d drive people away [from the lower demand areas],’’ Joseph E. Barr, the parking director for the city, said in a phone interview on Monday.

A map posted on the city’s website shows drivers where the new rates are in effect.

The price hike aims to encourage turnover at meters, which are meant for short-term parking. The higher prices could generate more revenue to pay for transportation projects, such bike lanes and safety improvements at key intersections, the city said in a statement.

Barr called Cambridge’s plan a “less complex version’’ of a pilot parking meter program in Boston that relies on data collected by sensors installed on meters to determine demand.

Instead, Cambridge is collecting parking data the old-fashioned way.

“We’re basing it off of what we know from [police] officers,’’ Barr said.