A parking ticket paid within 14 days will cost you more in Vancouver as of Jan. 1

If you’re lucky enough to get a parking spot in the busy city of Vancouver but still get a ticket – that could now cost you more.

“I have gotten a parking ticket or two in my time,” Vancouverite Erin Sousa told Global News. “So, I noticed that the minimum fee had actually increased from $35 to $42.”

The city tells Global News that is, in fact, the case.

For example, if your parking ticket was $70 and you paid it within 14 days, you could’ve saved 50 per cent, which amounts to $35.  

But starting Jan. 1, that discount has been reduced to 40 per cent, so now the minimum payment is $42, which is a 20 per cent increase.

“The prices are made so high that it makes it really hard for the average person to go about their day-to-day life, you know – driving around,” Sousa said.

Parking meters generate a significant amount of revenue for the city coffers, hauling in over $50 million last year.

On top of that, the tickets issued in 2015 brought the city another $17 million, and that’s just from the violators who paid.

The City could offer no further comment, but justified the change saying it was passed by Council late last year to bring Vancouver’s discounts in line with other major cities.

In November, the City announced it will attempt to modernize the parking meter system while cutting back on linked greenhouse gas emissions, congestion, and improving safety. Depending on the area, that could mean rates would go up or down.

READ MORE: Vancouver’s proposed parking meter changes could affect prices, supply

The city issues close to 400,000 parking tickets every year. Two thirds of those who do get a parking ticket pay them within 14 days.

— With files from Ted Chernecki