In hopes of freeing up more short-term parking in downtown Victoria, city staff are recommending a price hike for all city-owned parkades.
City staff are recommending raising the rates for anyone parking longer than three hours in an effort to encourage them to move along.
That means rates for the first three hours would remain unchanged, but after three hours the rate would jump from two to three dollars, with each 15-minute increment costing $0.75.
The city’s policy of offering the first hour of parking free would still apply.
“People who are going to stay all day will be discouraged, no question about it, they’ll be paying more, but it will still be cheap to come down and do a couple hours of shopping, meeting and so forth,” said Victoria Coun. Geoff Young.
The daily maximum for city parkades would also rise from $12 to $14.50, and to $16 at the parkade on Yates Street.
Staff are also recommending raising the rates for monthly parkers.
If that’s approved, stalls at Centennial Square’s parkade would go from $115.50 per month to $150, while parkades on Yates, View and Broughton streets would jump to $200.
But those willing to shell out hundreds for a parking spot are out of luck for the foreseeable future.
The minimum wait to get into a city parkade is two-and-a-half years or up to five years for the Yates Street and Centennial Square parkades.
Young said the changes likely wouldn’t have a major effect on parking spaces, but every little bit helps.
“We’ll get a little bit of a shift. You’re not going to get a massive shift, but it doesn’t take too many people shifting over to create a bunch of space in the parkades,” he said.
If council does vote to raise parking costs, parkers could be paying more as soon as May 1.
With a report from CTV Vancouver Island's Louise Hartland
