WESTMOUNT – Monday at 9 a.m. was a frustrating time for drivers in Westmount as the city ditched its old parking meters in favour of new, electronic ones.
How does it work?
Instead of paying for a designated spot, drivers will now pay for time, using their license plate numbers.
That means anyone driving to different locations in Westmount won’t have to keep paying for parking at different spots.
“It’s happened to me when you run into a store to get change and you have a ticket on your car by the time you get out,” said city councillor Philip Cutler.
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The total cost of the change was $1.1 million.
“To me this was a no-brainer,” said Cutler, adding that there is also a new parking app to go with the meters.
“Everyone around me is frustrated with this coin-operated system, but we all live our lives through our phones.”
Westmount is also doing away with designated parking spots, bringing the total number of spaces from 750 to nearly 900.
Trouble already?
However, by 9:30 a.m., Westmount public security were out in force to help those who are a little less tech-savvy.
“I give up. I know I’m going to get a ticket, so I guess I made a donation to the City of Westmount,” said one driver on Greene Avenue.
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All the same, one of the biggest advantages to the change, is not having to look for coins.
“I think it’s fantastic to not always look for change, that it accepts Visa and that you can move around,” said one shopper.
“I think it’s a great system, the only thing that’s unfortunate is that it’s not integrated with the City of Montreal,” said another.
What about Montreal?
Montreal is currently reviewing its parking policy, and said it is considering a pay-by-plate option.
The old meters in Westmount are schedule to be removed soon.
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“We used to have a perk living in Westmount, where we could get a freebie when we saw the meter ticking down we knew how much time we had left on the meter,” a resident said. “Now we don’t have that anymore.”
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