NOTL chamber wants updated parking spot technology
Janice Thomson has no problem with an increase in parking rates in the Old Town, but she would like to see Niagara-on-the-Lake embrace leading technology for parking stations that is available in other urban areas.
When the town decided to spend almost $500,000 on new parking meters in 2014, the pay-by-phone technology was touted as an advantage to visitors.
At the time, the stations were installed to be used as pay-by-plate, with a keypad for drivers to enter their licence number. If they were sitting in a restaurant or watching a play, the technology existed for them to enter their license number on their phone and add money to the meter.
But the technology was never used, said Thomson.
And when the pay stations were causing a huge number of problems after installation, the keypads were removed.
Last October the town was asked to look at increasing parking revenue to boost reserves, which will be depleted because of decisions made by council during budget discussions to use parking reserves to finance various projects, including some requested by the Communities in Bloom committee.
A report to council in February led to a decision to buy more meters to expand the paid parking area in the Old Town
Thomson said “it’s time to have another look” at using the latest technology that is possible with the machines.
It’s a technology that she takes advantage of when she parks in Toronto. An app on her phone tells her where to find a public parking space, and allows her to pay for it on her phone. If she’s getting within a few minutes of her paid time expiring, she gets a message on her smartphone and an opportunity to put more money on the meter, without leaving her seat in the meeting she’s attending.
“This was considered the way of the future, but we’re at the point where it’s not going to be strange to people parking in NOTL now. These meters are everywhere — this technology is becoming mainstream. St. Catharines is in the process of testing it,” she said. “We should be having another look at it.”
Parking fees are going up in the Old Town and will provide an additional $457,000 per year for the town coffers, with a 50-cent hike to the hourly rates for meters, and an extension of pay parking for an extra two hours to 8 p.m. Council also approved an expansion of metered parking to areas that are currently free, on Wellington Street opposite the former hospital this year and on Byron St.reet between King Street and Parks Canada property in 2018. After the capital costs for meters or pay stations have been paid, the two new parking areas would bring another $146,600 a year.
The decisions were made without input from the business community, said Thomson, since the town’s parking committee was dissolved more than a year ago. Some members of the disbanded committee continue to meet, and will likely be making a presentation to council about the meters, she said.
Other issues with the pay stations, such as machines rejecting some loonies and toonies, still occur, but not as frequently, she said.
Town building supervisor Rolf Wiens, whose responsibilities include pay stations, agreed the problems the town was experiencing with the machines when they were installed have largely abated.
“They’ve been working quite well lately. We haven’t been getting the complaints we had a couple of years ago.”
During the worst of the difficulties with the machines, he was instructed to remove the keypads, and with that went the technology that allowed for pay-by-plate and pay-by-phone.
The town hasn’t decided whether the new machines it purchases will be the same, but likely they will be, he said, adding there has been some discussion about making the new technology available now that the other issues have all but been eliminated.
“We’re looking into it,” he said.