Officials look to expand ParkPlus

ParkPlus machines will be installed in parkades and surface lots, while people who park in handicapped spots will face higher fines of $250 in a new Calgary Parking Authority budget going before council Monday.

Broadening the use of ParkPlus machines beyond the streets is likely to meet some resistance.

"I certainly hope if they’re expanding that they address the shortcomings before they do that," Maggie Schofield, executive director of the Calgary Downtown Association, said.

The patented parking system allows customers to pay with credit cards and to start and stop their time with a cellphone account, but there have been complaints the system can be confusing and that refunds are difficult to get.

A special car drives by and snaps parked vehicles’ licence plates, later matching the time of the photo with who has paid in order to issue tickets.

That feature of the system led to vocal complaints last fall when drivers at park-and-ride lots who backed into their stalls received tickets because the parking authority couldn’t see their licence plates.

The parking authority would not make anyone available to comment Thursday, a spokeswoman saying only it was awaiting direction from council.

Ald. Ric McIver said putting the machines in city-owned parkades and lots concerns him.

"Then you’re into a ‘you can’t back into your stall’ kind of thing," he said. "People don’t like that."

Schofield said many energy companies require their employees to back in for safety reasons.

"That’s a dialogue they need to have with their customers," she said of the parking authority.

Ald. Dale Hodges, who sits on the parking authority’s board, isn’t in favour of expanding the use of the machines.

"I’ve heard enough about ParkPlus to last me many, many years," he said.

The budget before council Monday is a do-over, after a first draft was rejected last fall because of the inclusion of paid parking on Sundays and evenings and an overall increase in fines.

Both of those proposed initiatives are gone, at the direction of council. The reduced hourly parking rates, which were put into place last fall, remain unchanged.

Hodges said it remains to be seen whether this budget is more palatable.

It reduces the parking authority’s expenditures by six per cent and returns more than $17 million to city coffers

"We’ll see what council decides Monday," he said.

Ald. Druh Farrell, who has asked for a governance review of the parking authority, which is underway, said the topic always strikes a nerve.

"Parking is a high profile issue and gets a lot of discussion and debate," she said.

While a city committee rejected higher fines last fall, this budget takes a different approach. Rather than increasing them all, there would be three levels. Anyone paying a ticket in the first 10 days would pay a lower rate and within a month of the infraction the fine would be the same as the current early payment. Drivers taking longer than 30 days to pay would face the full fine.

As well, the overall fines for tickets related to accessible spots — such as parking in a handicapped stall or stopping in a handicapped loading zone — would increase to $250 this year. That would drop to $150 if paid after 10 days and $200 if it took 30 days to pay.

The parking authority budget also calls for reduced hours at the impound lot — instead of being open 24 hours a day it would allow customers to get their vehicles between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. during the week and between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. on weekends. Ninety-five per cent of customers could be accommodated in those hours, a report going to council says.

The daily impound storage fee would also increase over two years to $28, the same as paying for a day of parking, from $12.50.

kguttormson@theherald. canwest.com