Space and time
Sat Jan 12 2008
By Bartley Kives
THE most profitable parking pay station in the City of Winnipeg can be found on tiny Olivia Street, a minuscule strip of asphalt just south of Health Sciences Centre.
During the first 11 months of 2007, HSC visitors used their loonies, toonies and credit cards to pump $15,567 into pay station No. 3395, the highest revenue-generator of all 256 kiosks operated by the Winnipeg Parking Authority.
"That bothers me," said Glen Seroy, an HSC safety official, standing on Olivia Street on a mild January morning.
"There should be more parking around here. And there should be better signs. A lot of people who come here don't understand how to use the machines. They're older and they're intimidated by the technology."
Like most Winnipeggers -- and all employees at Health Sciences Centre, which suffers from a serious parking shortage -- Seroy has strong opinions about where you can and cannot leave your car in the centre of the city.
On any given weekday, motorists park 65,000 vehicles in downtown Winnipeg and the West Alexander neighbourhood around the HSC, where private parking companies, public agencies and the Winnipeg Parking Authority operate about 35,000 spots.
Total number of paid parking spots in inner-city Winnipeg: Approximately 35,000
Number of those spots in privately owned surface lots and parkades: Approximately 27,000
Number of parking stalls operated by Impark throughout Winnipeg: About 18,000, in 150 separate lots
City-owned paid parking stalls: Approximately 5,000
On downtown streets and near hospitals: 2,700
In city-owned parkades: 1,973
In city-owned surface lots: About 300
Average cost of a monthly parking spot in downtown Winnipeg: $90 to $130
Average cost of a monthly parking spot in Calgary, Toronto and Ottawa, according to a Colliers International survey: $350, $302 and $195, respectively.
Estimated number of cars that park downtown for at least part of an average weekday: 65,000
Projected revenue for the Winnipeg Parking Authority through the end of 2007: Total revenue: $13.5 million
Percentage of that revenue earned from tickets and other forms of enforcement: 42 per cent, or $5.6 million
Percentage earned from parkades at Winnipeg Square, the Millennium Library and the Civic Centre: 33 per cent, or $4.5 million
Percentage earned from on-street parking and permits: 19 per cent, or $2.6 million
Percentage earned from city-owned surface lots: six per cent, or $800,000
Estimated extra revenue generated each year at Millennium Library parkade due to events at MTS Centre: About $250,000
Number of pay-and-display parking stations in Winnipeg: 256
Number to be added this summer: 125
Number of conventional one- and two-hour parking meters in Winnipeg: 1,168
Number of those meters to be removed: All but about 100, and those that remain will be digital.
Revenue lost by the city in January 2007 when cold weather prevented some downtown pay stations from functioning properly: About $40,000
On-street parking revenue lost by the city during the summer of 2007 due to downtown road repairs: About $100,000
Number of commissionaires working in Winnipeg on an average weekday: 26, including 17 foot patrols and nine mobile units
Average number of times a parking spot on a Winnipeg street is checked by a commissionaire during a normal weekday: Three
Commissionaire staffing shortage in 2007: 30 per cent
The highest-earning parking pay stations in the City of Winnipeg in 2007*
1. West side of Olivia Street, south of McDermot Avenue (near Health Sciences Centre): $15,567
2. North side of Lombard Avenue at Westbrook Street (near CanWest Global Park): $14,373
3. North side of Portage Avenue at Balmoral Street (near the Winnipeg Parking Authority office): $14,239
* Revenue earned from Jan. 1 to Nov. 30, 2007
Worst parking scofflaw
A West End resident, whose identity has been withheld due to privacy legislation, has 144 outstanding tickets and owes the city $6,700 in unpaid fines. The individual in question no longer owns a car, so seizing a vehicle is out of the question.
The widespread perception is there isn't enough parking. But perception and reality are two very different things, especially when it comes to the sticky science of providing parking.
"When people say there isn't enough parking downtown, what they really mean is there isn't enough free parking downtown," said Colin Stewart, special projects manager for the Winnipeg Parking Authority, which operates about 5,000 spots on city streets, three city-owned parkades and a handful of surface lots.
While private companies like Impark, the international parking behemoth that operates 150 lots in Winnipeg, focus on reserved monthly stalls, the WPA's main goal is to provide casual, short-term parking.
Contrary to popular belief, that does not mean making as much money as possible from people heading downtown to shop, renew their passport or visit an eye doctor, although the WPA did expect to earn $2.6 million from on-street parking and residential permits by the end of last year.
WPA chief operating officer Dave Hill said his agency ultimately wants people to be able to park downtown as easily as possible, although not necessarily as cheaply as possible.
Suburban drivers who feel they have a God-given right to drive right up to the front of their desired destination may express disbelief, but Hill insists the Winnipeg Parking Authority strives to ensure there are one or two open spots on any block at any given time.
"Being a philosophical parking guy, the question of how much parking is enough is very difficult, because demand is fluid and changing all the time," he said, noting the goal is to ensure one out of every 10 spots on the street is open. "It's a big challenge, but with the technology we have available, it's an achievable goal."
The technology in question is electronic pay stations that allow the WPA to monitor the way Winnipeg drivers use parking spots, something that wasn't possible with the old conventional meters that are being phased out.
Cash from the old meters was simply collected and dumped in a bag, with no attention paid to which ones were busy, and at what time of day.
The new pay stations provide that data, allowing the WPA to make minor adjustments and even consider charging more for meters in high-use areas, at some point in the future.
For now, the standard $1-an-hour rate remains in effect at all WPA pay stations, which will replace all but about 100 conventional meters before the end of 2008, Stewart said.
Conventional meters will remain on streets where there are not enough parking spots to warrant the placement of a more expensive pay station. The WPA will add 125 more of the machines, which allow drivers to pay by credit card and even cellphone.
Fears they would not work during a Winnipeg winter proved to be founded in January 2007, when several downtown machines malfunctioned during a cold snap, costing the city $40,000 in lost revenue.
But the WPA is pleased with the machines, which also allow more vehicles to park on a given stretch of street. Parking spaces at conventional meters are about seven metres long, while drivers tend to take up only six metres when they're left to their own devices on streets with pay stations.
The WPA also operates a handful of surface parking lots, as well as parkades at Winnipeg Square, the Millennium Library and the Civic Centre. All three parkades are cash cows that generate a combined $4.5 million a year in revenue, but two decades of neglect has left the authority facing a $13-million repair tab.
IN recent years, the parkades were allowed to slide because the Winnipeg Parking Authority was forced to transfer revenue to the City of Winnipeg regardless of how much money it collected. As a result, the WPA has an accumulated deficit of $7 million.
But new rules slated to be approved this year should allow the WPA to keep the cash it collects, with an eye to paying off its deficit, repairing its parkades and then, some time during the next decade, building a few more.
The shortage of parkades in downtown Winnipeg -- and the relative ubiquity of surface parking lots -- is a sore spot with urban planners and downtown proponents alike.
While the cost of creating a surface parking stall is only $2,000, the cost of the average parkade stall is more like $22,000. Given the relatively low cost of monthly parking in Winnipeg -- rates typically run from $90 to $125, among the puniest in Canada -- the potential return on investment for any prospective parkade builder is low.
Downtown development agency CentreVenture wants to partner with private companies to build at least three more parkades. The problem is economics, as parkades don't look profitable until monthly parking rates rise above $200.
CentreVenture and the City of Winnipeg have partnered with Bedford Investments to transform the heritage building at 104 King St. into a new $7.4-million parkade, with retail stores on the main level.
CentreVenture CEO Ross McGowan said he has three more locations on his parkade wish list: North of Portage Avenue near the still-unredeveloped Avenue Building; on the west side of Main Street north of Logan Avenue, where the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority may build new offices; and on the east side of the Exchange District, where there are not enough new parking spots to meet the demand from new condominium owners.
Some condo sales have actually been killed by a shortage of parking east of Main Street, said Jim Paterson, the acting director of Winnipeg's Property, Planning and Development Department.
He said the city's $2.8-million investment in the 104 King St. project ($1.5 million in grants, $800,000 in tax incentives and $500,000 from CentreVenture) shows Winnipeg is serious about building more parkades, which city planners would love to see replace downtown's depressing patchwork of surface parking lots.
"We would prefer fewer surface lots. They don't lend themselves to a pedestrian environment. They're like missing teeth -- the huge void between St. Mary's and Broadway in particular (is) a vast wasteland," Paterson said.
In cities across North America, parkades are preferred over surface lots because they encourage density and can even preserve the character of a neighbourhood, added Hill. The 104 King St. project will preserve the north- and west-facing red-brick facades of the King Building, one of the oldest buildings in the Exchange District.
The other busy area that may soon see another parkade is Health Sciences Centre. A new 1,200-stall parkade planned for the medical complex won't even put a dent in the list of employees waiting for a parking spot, Stewart said.
In the short term, that means more headaches for people like Seroy, who has received a ticket while parking on busy Olivia Street.
"You park here, you're guaranteed to get a ticket," he said, echoing the sentiments of most hospital employees.
The WPA claims no particular area is targeted by its foot patrols and mobile units. But chief operating officer Hill did divulge a little parking secret: The average spot in Winnipeg is only checked an average of three times a day.
bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca
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