Fredericton’s draft parking master plan released

Parking is about to change in Fredericton, as the city tries to maximize the limited spaces it has.

The City of Fredericton has received its first draft of the parking master plan that aims to maximize efficiency, improve mobility options and identify areas for improvement.

The draft plan was prepared by Stantec and presented to members of the city’s transportation committee.

“The parking master plan identified three key strategies moving forward, it’s really focused on looking at our supply demand management, looking at pricing structure going forward and also at technology needs,” said Meredith Gilbert, the City of Fredericton manager of Transit and Parking Services.

The city manages 584 on-street parking spaces. The master draft plan recommends the introduction of variable rate parking.

So those looking to park in the busier areas of downtown, such as King and Queen streets, could see a hike in rates. Currently, on-street parking is $1.75 an hour and off street is $1 an hour.

“If we vary rates at different times of day or different times of year, we can influence how parking is utilized throughout the downtown,” said Gilbert.

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The plan also discourages long-term on-street parking from those that work in the downtown core.

“What we want to see is that people staying for longer periods of time, say a daily commuter, utilize the off-street parking spaces and our parking garages to leave the other higher demand spots available for shorter trip customers,” says Gilbert.

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With the new system, instead of having to remember your spot number, the plan recommends inputting one’s licence plate. The new pay stations will also accept credit and debit cards.

“I think people will be familiar having seen it in other cities, and occasionally meters downtown will be out of service or not operating, so this will solve that problem,” said local business owner Andrew Wilkins.

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But not everyone in Fredericton is keen of the proposed changes.

“It’s definitely going to discourage me from coming downtown because parking is hard enough as it is, and it’s one more thing they are making it harder.”

The city is asking residents to review the 193-page parking master plan draft and provide feedback until April 10.