A Winnipegger is calling out the city for what she says are confusing Saturday parking rules.
Kali Martin was in the Exchange District Saturday setting up for an Etsy pop up market. She says she spotted a parking enforcement employee ticketing vehicles.
“I ran out and was like ‘wait, wait, isn’t it two hours of free parking on Saturdays?’”
Martin says she was told the two hours of free parking only kicked in after you pay for two hours. But she says the signs on the parking meters are clear as day.
“That bright blue sticker to me almost trumps anything because it says two hours of complimentary parking on Saturday, which to me there isn’t anything clearer than that,” she said.
Global News reached out to the city about the parking confusion. A spokesperson said the city does offer two hours of free parking on Saturdays after the maximum on street paid parking time is purchased. This is the case except for the areas near the Health Sciences Centre or the St. Boniface Hospital.
The city also says the policy was approved in 2012 but only recently was reflected on the city’s website.
However, Martin says there’s no spot on the parking meter to reflect the rule. She says she saw multiple people getting tickets on Saturday afternoon.
“There’s no way on average that within two blocks there would be 20 cars that all opted not to pay parking willfully, so clearly this was the case of tons of people thinking they were allowed to park for two hours for free.”
The city says it will be reviewing its operations related to two hour free parking to “ensure greater clarity going forward,” according to a spokesperson.
Other Winnipeggers took to social media to voice their frustrations about the parking rules.