Free street parking in the CBD - a list and a reckoning

[flar]

You can park for free in Ottawa after 5:30 until 8:30 am. I did that for an entire week while staying at my brother's place in the byward market a few weeks ago.

As for the topic, I think any downtown that is not super bustling and thriving should have free parking, but limited to two or three hours so people don't just park there all day. Parking is a major factor in where people decide to shop. Having to pay for parking is a hassle when you can just go to Walmart.

[flar]

Originally Posted by speedog

I'm amazed that there are still individual space parking meters in use in Canada's larger cities - I don't remember the last time I saw or used one in Calgary.

Everything is fancy and new in Calgary. In other cities, those meters have probably been there for ages. When they need replacing they will likely go to a ticket machine so people can pay with credit cards.

[Pinion]

City of North Van has lots of free two hour parking spots in theory but good luck ever finding one empty. My area is increasingly jammed with people going 20km/h looking for a spot to go eat dinner or whatever.

In Lower Lonsdale it's to the point where even the good illegal spots are always taken.

[Innsertnamehere]

Most of Toronto has free parking on residential streets for 1-2 hours. I use it a lot when visiting restaurants and whatnot that are not in the immediate core. Places like the Annex, Queen west, etc. Are easy to park for free.

[casper]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

Most of Toronto has free parking on residential streets for 1-2 hours. I use it a lot when visiting restaurants and whatnot that are not in the immediate core. Places like the Annex, Queen west, etc. Are easy to park for free.

City of Victoria owns a number of downtown parkades. First hour is normally free any time of the day then free after closing. You pay if you stay longer.

Street parking (using those central kiosks with numbered slots) are active until the evening around 6:00 pm.

[Acajack]

The City of Ottawa also owns a number of large parkades in the city core. Including two in the Byward Market district.

As far as I know they are *never* free. Even at 2 am on a Tuesday night in January. (They're usually empty during those times.)

[MolsonExport]

Merchants may thank elected officials for free parking at the time of peak demand, but open spaces will become even harder to find. Drivers congest traffic and pollute the air while searching for curb spaces, and the lucky ones who find a space will occupy it longer than if they were paying to park. Parking holidays are well-intended, but the gift is more like a lump of coal for businesses that depend on parking turnover.

Creating a Commons Problem at Christmas

Free curb parking creates a classic commons problem — no one owns it, and everyone can use it. In his famous essay, “The Tragedy of the Commons,” Garrett Hardin used free curb parking at Christmas to illustrate the problem:

During the Christmas shopping season the parking meters downtown were covered with plastic bags that bore tags reading: “Do not open until after Christmas. Free parking courtesy of the mayor and city council.” In other words, facing the prospect of an increased demand for already scarce space, the city fathers reinstituted the system of the commons.

Hardin also used parking meters as an example of social arrangements that encourage responsible behavior:

To keep downtown shoppers temperate in their use of parking space we introduce parking meters for short periods, and traffic fines for longer ones. We need not actually forbid a citizen to park as long as he wants to; we need merely make it increasingly expensive for him to do so. Not prohibition, but carefully biased options are what we offer him.

https://www.sciencemag.org/site/feat...-3859-1243.pdf
http://newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/fre...ch-a-good-deal

[Innsertnamehere]

The Toronto Parking authority is the largest public parking authority on the continent, IIRC. They are a huge profit centre for the city and own probably over 100,000 spots across the city.

[LeftCoaster]

Originally Posted by flar

Everything is fancy and new in Calgary. In other cities, those meters have probably been there for ages. When they need replacing they will likely go to a ticket machine so people can pay with credit cards.

Nothing wrong with individual meters.

Vancouver still uses individual meters but all can be paid for via app, credit card, or crusty old cash.

The pay by phone meters work great because you can keep feeding it remotely from your app if your meeting/dinner etc... go long.

[ssiguy]

In Vancouver's West End you pay thru the nose during the day but after 10pm it is free.