It’s welcome news to many Winnipeg drivers: the city is slow out of the blocks implementing the parking hikes that took effect on Sunday.
On April 1, Downtown Winnipeg street parking rates were increased by $1.50 per hour. But Tuesday, three days into the changes, very few of the meters around the city had yet to be switched over.
READ MORE: Downtown Winnipeg parking rates set to increase Sunday
For many that eat, live or work downtown, it’s a delay that means more change in their pockets.
At least for now.
The City of Winnipeg Parking Authority policy analyst Colin Stewart said the changes are still on the way, but thanks to some cold weather and a complicated process, not very many of the pay stations have been switched over.
“The fact that it’s way colder than seasonal is going to slow them down,” Stewart said. “They’ve got to open up the machine, get to the motherboard, get the old chip out, put the new one in, boot it up and then they’ve got to run the diagnostics.
“It could be seven weeks, could be six weeks, could be eight weeks.”
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The city originally promised the changes would take up to eight weeks, but that the core would be worked on first.
However, as of Tuesday afternoon, two different City of Winnipeg maps shows no progress has been made.
The best way to avoid paying increased fees for as long as possible is to use a credit card. The city said their pay-by-phone app will charge the old rate until all of the pay stations have been updated.
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