Finding parking can sometimes be a tedious task, especially in downtown Montreal.
Now, the city may be making it a little more difficult.
On Wednesday, the city awarded a contract for the installation of more charging stations for electric cars.
“There are 200 more stations that will be installed through the island, this summer this year, in 2018,” said Montreal Executive Committee member, Eric Alan Caldwell.
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The city of Montreal currently has around 400 charging stations in and around the city.
By the end of this year, 200 more will be added.
The city said the goal is to have 1,000 by 2020.
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Montrealers differed on whether they think the additions are a good idea.
“There’s already no parking for regular cars and they’re taking away another 200 spots, for maybe 50 cars that are needed?” said Montreal resident Michael Koutsogiannopoulos. “Plus, they’re blocking off all the streets — so where are people supposed to go in the downtown core?”
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Others say they’re not convinced more charging stations is what the city needs, and this may just be adding to the “anti-car” rhetoric surrounding the Valerie Plante administration.
“I don’t think anybody expected them to be this quick or radical in terms of an agenda which they claim is not anti-car, which is widely perceived by the public as going too far,” said Montreal City Coun. Marvin Rotrand.
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