We’re a 4-member, single-car family, with both parents working. We’ve chosen to live close to where we work, have one car, and bike, carpool, walk or take the bus for all our other transportation needs. We live downtown. We shop downtown. We have 2 small children. Any parent will tell you that the juggling of family members and car seats to get to school, day care, work, swimming lessons, dance class, banks, groceries, etc. takes great coordination.I’m a huge fan of the 2-Hour Free Parking pilot program downtown. It’s a boon for downtown buisnesses, and has potential to invigorate the city core. Good on you, city councillors! Long overdue! I do, however, have a issue with the enforcement of this program. This past Saturday, my wife dropped the kids and I, and a stroller, off at the library at approximately 10:25am. She had a number of errands to run, some downtown, others outside of the core. She parked at a meter for no longer than 10 minutes. A traffic officer came by and recorded that the car was parked at a meter. Later that day, after 3:00pm., my daughter and I were on our way home from a friends’ house and parked downtown. The weather was cooperating, and we walked from point to point for 45 minutes, running our errands. We came back to the car to find that a traffic officer had come by again and by his calculations, we had been parked downtown for well over our 2 hour limit, and thus needed to pay our $20 fine.As I was explaining to the city staff member who was processing my payment, if I had put 2 and 2 together, I might have realized that our car was parked in the downtown core nearly 5 hours earlier, and opted to park in a municipal lot (which are free on saturdays), but truthfully, I had no idea when and where my wife had parked earlier that day.
Hang on for the punchline. This is what the staff member said next, “that’s because you drove your wife’s car downtown”. This statement is funny on a number of levels, but I think it sums up the issue. If we were a 2 car family, we could have avoided the fine. The city is rewarding families who have 2 cars, which doesn’t seem fair, or environmentally responsible. In fact, by my math, if only had 4 cars, I could park for free all day downtown.
If the goal is to encourage people to come downtown, I think the details and different scenarios need to be thought out fully. I really don’t think that this ticket should have been issued. KM
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With respect to your email concerning 2 hours of free parking only being allowed once per day, the once per day limit is in place to curb potential abuse to the program and to ensure that the on-street parking spaces are kept available for short term use only. This time limitation commences at 9 am Monday to Saturday and any parking taking place that takes place prior to 9 am or after 6 pm is not tracked. Since the program was implemented in September we are issuing approximately 1 ticket per day for anyone being found downtown a second time in the same day.
You should also be aware that if you require short term parking for pickups or deliveries, Public Loading Zones allow 15 minutes of parking and are available for use as many times per day as you require. These Public Loading Zones are conveniently situated on every street throughout the downtown area. Staff