Park & Ride fee to be scrapped?
Posted Nov 27, 2010 11:38 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Despite the fact Calgary City Council is still working on a plan to cut $60-million from next year’s budget, it appears Mayor Naheed Nenshi and eight of the 14 aldermen plan to make a push to eliminate parking fees for transit users.
The elimination of the $3 dollar daily, park & ride fee would mean a hit in excess of $4-million to the City’s budget. The projection for Park & Ride revenues next year is $5.2 million. Subtract $400,000 for overhead costs, and the city would be ahead by approximately $4.8 million.
But scrapping the fee, unpopular with many users, comes with more than financial ramifications.
The Calgary Herald reports Mayor Nenshi says the new plan will include a solution to eliminate the problem, from the pre-payment days, of lots overflowing before dawn. And there won’t necessarily be a total elimination of fees. The Mayor is proposing a reservation system, guaranteeing a parking spot for a fee.
The initiation of the Park & Ride system created some problems for adjacent neighbourhoods. In Whitehorn, only 16 percent of the parking lot is actually used on a daily basis. However, illegal parking on neighbouring streets has become an issue.
