A report before a Calgary transportation committee Thursday contains recommendations on how to make it easier for customers to find spaces to park at transit commuter lots.
The city has been struggling to find the right balance between paid and free parking for years, while at the same time trying to increase ridership on the transit system.
Currently, weekday reserved parking between 2 a.m. and 10 a.m. costs $85 a month at transit lots. After 10 a.m., parking is free.
However, parking remains a challenge for some transit users.
One commuter told Global News Morning Calgary‘s Doug Vaessen Thursday she’s tried and failed to get a permit at one lot in west Calgary.
“I phoned the city and I was told they were at capacity and it had a waiting list of a couple of thousand people,” she said.
The report recommends:
- Make park and ride easier to use by increasing the certainty of finding a space
- Build transit ridership by pricing competitively with alternatives and optimizing the use of available stalls
Other improvements will be related to technological changes, which are undetermined at the moment. It also recommends some free stalls be provided at all LRT stations.
“I think we have to be realistic if we want to increase ridership,” Ward 6 Coun. Jeff Davison said. “We have to provide incentives, so we have to look at options like what times are available for free parking stalls, what times do paid parking stalls kick in and the number of reserved spots.”
— With files from Doug Vaessen
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