City issues hundreds of tickets to drivers parked along city snow routes
More than 700 parking tickets were issued Monday for violations of the city’s snow route parking ban during the first seven hours of the ban.
The ban began at 9 a.m. and could last up to 72 hours as city workers clear heavy amounts of snow that fell over the weekend.
The intent of implementing the temporary parking restrictions is to make it easier for crews to plow on major streets without vehicles being in the way.
“The reality is if there were no cars on the road, we’d be able to clear them extremely fast,” said Chris McGeachy, a spokesman for the city’s roads department. “It does help because instead of having to weave in and out of cars, the crews are actually able to do these straight lines and obviously get things done a lot faster.”
The Calgary Parking Authority said 711 parking tickets were issued to drivers who didn’t adhere to the parking ban as of 4 p.m. on Monday.
The fine for violating the snow route parking ban is $75. However, this falls to $40 if the ticket is paid within 10 days. It costs $50 if the ticket is paid within 30 days.
Any snowfall of at least two centimetres or more activates the city’s seven-day snow-clearing plan, which sees major roads like Glenmore, Sarcee and Macleod Trails, also known as Priority 1 roads, cleared first within 24 hours. Priority 2 roads, those that the parking ban affects, are cleared in the second 24 hours after the snowfall ends.
“As of right now, we’re still kind of in the early stages of this snow route parking ban, so we haven’t really made a lot of progress on those Priority 2s, but we have made some,” McGeachy said.
Snow routes are marked throughout the city by blue signs with a white snowflake.
“If a bus goes down your street, it’s more than likely that is a snow route,” said Kevin Bulmer, enforcement co-ordinator of the Calgary Parking Authority.
He said compliance has so far been better than the last snow route parking ban, which the city issued almost a year ago to the day, when about 2,700 tickets were issued over the three days it was in effect.
Accessible parking stalls are exempt from the restriction, so long as a valid placard is displayed, according to Bulmer. He added that the Calgary Parking Authority offers free parking in its downtown parkades from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. for those affected by downtown snow routes.
With at least 10 centimetres of snow likely to fall from Wednesday evening to Friday morning, a second consecutive parking ban could be issued later this week.
“It’s too early to tell, but it would not be out of the realm of possibility that if we have another significant snowfall — and right now our early indications are that this snowfall will be significant — we could call another ban,” said McGeachy.
He said city crews were moving as quickly as possible on Monday to try to get ahead of schedule. Extra hands are on deck as the city called in workers from a contractor it keeps on retainer for cases of large snowfalls.
“We just remind citizens that moving helps us get the job done quicker,” McGeachy said. “Obviously no one likes to get a ticket. We’ re just trying to get in there and get out as quickly as possible.”