The Montreal borough of Rosemont-La-Petite-Patrie thinks people with bigger vehicles should pay more for parking, and will soon adopt a new policy to reflect that.
The bigger your car is, the more expensive it will be to purchase a permit to park on the street.
In the past 20 years, the number of cars in Montreal has increased by more than 150,000, according to SAAQ numbers cited by the borough. It also says there are more and more big pickups and SUVs rolling around.
Borough Mayor François Limoges says space is running out. Citing an École Polytechnique study, Limoges says because cars keep getting bigger, his borough has lost as many as 10,000 parking spots in recent years.
“It’s time to have the conversation about the scale of the vehicles,” he told Global News in an interview.
Right now in most of Montreal, the price of a parking permit increases based on the size of a vehicle’s engine. A V8 costs more to park than a four-cylinder.
As of July in Rosemont, the price will be based on the vehicle’s total mass. It’ll be more expensive to park a pickup truck or SUV than a compact car.
“We want to make the pricing fair for the amount of room they take up on the street,” Limoges said.
Whether electric, hybrid or internal combustion, parking a vehicle under 1,550 kilograms will cost $115 for the year. Vehicles with a mass between 1,250 kg and 1,424 kg will cost $145, 1,425 kg to 1,599 kg will be $175 and 1,600 kg and more will be $205.
“It was the right thing to do,” said Équiterre government relations director Marc-André Viau.
He says automakers need to be discouraged from emphasizing the production of big vehicles. He points to Chicoutimi, Que., recently banning big vehicles from parking on certain streets because cars were having difficulty getting through.
“It’s becoming a problem for municipalities across Quebec, across Canada, across North America, because the industry is just putting bigger and bigger cars on the road,” said Viau.
Not everyone is on board with the new price structure.
“Families who have car seats for children need bigger cars,” said Louise Bouchard, as she got into her car on Masson in Rosemont. “I don’t know why they’d make people pay more.”
The grandmother had two car seats in her vehicle. Some drivers might require bigger vehicles for work purposes as well.
The borough mayor responds that people with bigger cars were already paying more in most cases, because their vehicles have bigger engines.
“It’s not a rise in the pricing. It’s a change of the pricing. We want to open a conversation about the scale of the vehicles in Montreal and in Quebec,” said Limoges.
Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante says smaller cars are better for the climate and make roads safer for everyone.
“How do we protect the more vulnerable on our streets? The bigger the vehicle, the less vision you have. It’s proven,” she said.
Rosemont hopes other boroughs across the city and the province follow suit, and that everyone starts to think twice about the size of the vehicle they buy.
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