Regina Drivers think parking enforcement is much stricter

REGINA – There’s nothing like a parking ticket – or two to make a good day bad or a bad day worse.

“I said, ‘Please, I’m already here,’ and they said, ‘I’ve already written it, so you have to go appeal.’ And when I appealed, they said no. So very strict, very, very strict and it’s expensive too!” said one driver downtown on Wednesday.

Very strict, and some say getting stricter. Another driver told Global News, “It has gotten way worse. Man, I see these guys, they ticket everybody. You could be parked just a tiny bit too far up from where you’re supposed to be and yeah, you get a ticket.”

Putting too few coins in the meter is not the only violation.

“For example, the distance that you need to park from a curb to avoid being in a traffic lane and some of the other common regulations are distance from a fire hydrant,” explained Laurie Shalley, City of Regina director of community services.

You must park two metres from a fire hydrant, 10 metres from an intersection, 0.6 metres from a curb and if you’re parked in a two hour spot, you have to move it to another block if you want to avoid getting a ticket.

“That regulation is in place to encourage turnover of parking spaces,” said Shalley.

The city issues about 100,000 tickets a year: 30,000 so far in 2015. Increased enforcement may have freed up parking spaces by getting traffic flowing, but the city isn’t sure if that has meant more visits downtown.

Another driver told Global News, “I never come downtown, for exactly the reason that I don’t want parking tickets. And yes, almost every time I come, I get one.”

“It’s something that needs to happen in a downtown in order to enforce that turnover and enforce that time limit in our meters,” said Judith Veresuk, Regina Downtown Business Improvement District (BID) executive director.

At the same time, Regina Downtown BID suggests more understanding from parking enforcement.

And they have another suggestion: “What the city should be looking at is making transit a more attractive option,” said Veresuk.