City committee to consider pay-by-phone parking plan
Support is building for a plan that would allow Reginans to pay for on-street parking using their phones.
The idea is set to come before city council’s public works and infrastructure committee on Thursday. According to parking manager Faisal Kalim, there are plenty of companies that offer the right kind of smartphone apps, which would link with the hand-held devices used by parking enforcement officers.
“Somebody would be able to put in their plate information, put in their credit card information and be able to validate parking without depositing coin into a meter,” Kalim said, adding that a more convenient system would help the city reduce illegal parking.
The technology would cost about $100,000 in operating costs. Administration is recommending council consider funding it as part of the 2019 budget process. Kalim said his staff would then immediately seek a supplier through a procurement process. He predicted an app could be ready to roll out by next year’s construction season.
For Judith Veresuk of the Regina Downtown Business Improvement District, it’s about time.
“We’re about eight years late to this party,” said Veresuk, who noted Vancouver and other cities have long offered pay-by-phone parking.
“The city needs to do this.” Veresuk is also interested in an option that would speed up the plan. The $100,000 cost could be passed on to drivers using the service, according to an administration report, with an estimated 35 cents in convenience fees per transaction.
If council chooses that path, payby-phone parking could be in place by the end of 2018. He said that approach isn’t recommended.
But others are enthusiastic about getting a system in place soon. Coun. Andrew Stevens, who represents the downtown, said he wants to make sure the city studies the issue before it rushes into anything — but he’s open to the accelerated option.
“If we can get all of this done properly and develop a meaningful strategy, the sooner the better,” he said. “I’d love to see this unfold in the fall.”
“The convenience charge is arguably something that people are willing to pay,” Stevens added.
“If it helps ... make parking downtown more user-friendly, I see no reason why we shouldn’t pursue it.”
But Stevens and Veresuk have questions about a second recommendation coming to the committee. Administration wants to take $50,000 from a city reserve and use the money to pay a consultant, who would develop “a detailed design for on-street parking payment options.” That could include pay stations and credit-card reading meters.
In committee, Stevens said he plans to ask why that’s still needed if council opts for a pay-by-phone model. Veresuk is also worried about the funding, which comes out of a pot used for other downtown projects.
“There’s no clarity on what you’re going to spend that $50,000 on and there’s no guarantee of replenishment,” said Veresuk, who said the reserve shouldn’t fund “revenue generating” programs. Kalim noted the funding source isn’t a “done deal.”
Moreover, Regina’s first experiment with credit card meters has proven expensive and “underutilized.” A string of credit-card capable meters on 11th Avenue got only 10 per cent of their total revenue from credit card transactions, administration’s report revealed. But they cost three or four times more than older meters and don’t last as long.
Only three years after installation, the credit card components have reached “end of life” and will not be upgraded.
It would cost $1.5 million to replace all Regina’s existing meters with pay stations, the report added.
Their lifespan would be about 10 years, but “dramatic changes in technology could render them antiquated sooner.”
But Kalim explained the pilot project may have failed because it was isolated to such a small area. Besides, he noted, some people don’t have smartphones.
Veresuk says something needs to be done to make downtown parking easier, and fast. She suspects some visitors are thinking twice because of inconvenient ways to pay for parking.