Murray Wood: Who's hot... and who's not
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Higher rates, bigger fines, and no more meters.
Changes to Regina’s parking bylaw have been approved by city council, to take effect April 1.
Following Wednesday’s meeting, director of community standards, Faisal Kalim, displayed a mockup of the pre-paid parking vouchers the city will make available for people who still want a cash option for on-street parking.
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Like the vouchers sold in Winnipeg, a user will validate a voucher for an hour of parking by scratching off the date and time.
Kalim expects an experience similar to Winnipeg, which saw a spike in voucher sales followed by a tailing off.
“Our message for residents is download the app,” he said. “It is a good system and it is a practical way to park.”
Councillors have asked whether businesses could buy books in bulk at a discount to distribute to customers. Kalim said there is an option for businesses to validate parking built into the Pay by Phone system itself.
“Businesses can set up their own account and they can pay for parking and how they validate that – whether they do it for free, or whether they charge that back to the customer,” he explained. “That’s ultimately up to them. But you know, a doctor’s office can, for instance, validate parking when somebody shows up, things like that.
“There are some more convenient options. And a parking voucher is good for one hour. Somebody might be in for 15 minutes or 30 minutes, so there’s more flexibility with the app.”
Winnipeg officials have also conducted outreach sessions at places like seniors centres to teach people how to download and use the app. Mayor Chad Bachynski said that’s an option, and he’s even helped a few people set things up.
“It’s going to be an ongoing conversation about how we support residents through this change … and make sure that everybody finds the right way to successfully park downtown,” he said.
Booklets of five vouchers will be sold for $13.75. That’s equal to the new hourly rate for most on-street parking spots when using the app, a 50 cent increase to $2.50/hour plus a 25-cent service charge for the Pay by Phone app.
There will be a decrease, however, at the metered spots south of Victoria Avenue and east of Broad Street to $1.50/hour (plus the Pay by Phone fee).
Parking ticket fines will increase by $10.
Administration will report back for next year’s budget on a request from Ward 1 councillor, Dan Rashovich, to explore options for immobilization and seizure technology as a way to enforce unpaid parking fines.
Rashovich said he doesn’t want a witch hunt, but with $7 million in unpaid fines outstanding, he hopes to find a deterrent.
