After backlash, new paid parking hours in Montreal’s downtown core are officially on ice until at least the end of the summer.
Mayor Valérie Plante said the city is in discussion with partners over its plan to extend the times for paid parking meters as of late April, but it was ultimately paused.
“What we’re getting the most is ‘You caught us off guard,'” she told reporters Wednesday. “That’s why I think the strategy was wrong because we didn’t give them predictability.”
Under the plan, the paid hours at some parking meters would be as follows: 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturdays and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays.
It’s a slight change from the current hours: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays and 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays.
Plante said she’s open to other suggestions when it comes to extending paid parking hours, but for now “we don’t want to rush into anything because we already did that.”
The delay comes after opposition party Ensemble Montréal Leader Aref Salem accused the Plante administration of trying to “pull a fast one on Montrealers.” Earlier this week, Salem said the schedule for parking meters was buried in more than 1,800 pages of budgetary documents published last December.
— with files from Global’s Elizabeth Zogalis