Banff will move ahead with a controversial user-pay parking trial this summer in five downtown lots.
Drivers will be charged $2 an hour to park in the Bear Street lot opposite Bison Courtyard, a Bear Street lot between Town Hall and Nesters, the Buffalo Street lot behind the Clock Tower Mall, Beaver Street behind the visitor centre and a Beaver-Caribou lot behind the Mount Royal Hotel.
The pilot project will run from Aug. 1 until Oct. 31, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., seven days a week. A parking management company will manage and implement the pilot project, which is to be funded by revenues collected through the parking fees.
Mayor Karen Sorensen voiced support for a trial, saying pay parking spaces in the five lots represent just 17 per cent of the available 1,400 parking stalls in Banff, with 83 per cent of the parking downtown remaining free during this summer’s pilot project.
“I completely respect the fears of some of the businesses, but I do think the fears are anecdotal. In fact, in other destinations it’s shown to be the opposite, that paid parking is not a deterrent,” she said.
“I need some factual information. I need to get real data on visitor behaviour. On the busiest days of the year, will visitors pay for convenience? That’s a key question for me. My perception is it is a way better visitor experience than getting a parking ticket.”
Banff, which lies within Canada’s flagship national park, is home to 8,200 residents for most of the year, but the daily population swells to 25,000 people a day in busy times, forcing RVs, buses and cars to circle within the town for limited parking spaces.
On the busiest days, vehicles back up the along the streets, causing gridlock at key intersections throughout town, even across the Bow River bridge to major tourist hotspots like the Cave and Basin, Parks Canada’s hot springs and the Banff gondola.
Studies show Banff’s 1,400 on-street and off-street parking stalls are about 125 stalls shy of what’s currently needed, and the shortfall is expected to get worse as the regional tourist market from Calgary and surrounding region continues to grow.
Just like in 2000 when residents shot down paid parking in a plebiscite, the issue has again proven highly controversial, with business groups and residents voicing loud opposition to council amid fears paid parking will hurt tourism and add to the high cost of living for residents.
Alanna Pettigrew, who was born and raised in Banff, was at town hall to argue against paid parking, saying the residents of Banff spoke loud and clear in their opposition to paid parking during a plebiscite 14 years ago.
“We are disappointed by council’s arrogant decision as they continue to push for paid parking. The residents and businesses never asked for this as it will create nothing but additional burdens on our already diminished image,” she said.
“This is not a positive solution. Banffites have already rejected this idea through a plebiscite. Perhaps it’s time to petition again against this very bad decision. I feel it’s against the wishes of the public and good government.”
Resident Leslie Taylor, Banff’s first mayor and former town councillor who has long been a supporter of exploring paid parking in Banff to deal with traffic and parking woes, urged council to move ahead with the trial.
As a person who admittedly is always slightly behind schedule, Taylor said she drives and parks downtown more frequently than she should.
“But I do understand that being able to park my car is a privilege, not some sort of constitutional right, and I also believe that someone like Jim Swanson, who rides his bike everywhere, shouldn’t have to pay through his taxes for my convenience,” she said.
“If we keep doing what we’re doing, we’ll keep getting what we’re getting. If you continue to provide parking free to the user, although it’s not free to the taxpayer, the user will continue to treat it as if it has no value. Put even a small charge on it and people change their behaviour in a way that education can never accomplish.”
The technology to be used is a pay by licence plate system, which is used in municipalities such as Calgary, White Rock, Vancouver and Penticton. Aspen is also moving to this technology in the next couple of years.
Payment will be made at an automated unit and a vehicle’s licence plate number will be entered on a keypad. As well, parking time may be extended with a pay-by-phone system. A wireless hand held device used by a parking officer, which can also be mounted on a vehicle, will scan plates and communicate with the pay station to confirm whether the parking fee has been paid.
The pilot project would allow for an initial warning system for first offences. The ticket price for a violation of the user-pay parking stalls will be $50, which is the same as the free parking spaces.
However, if the ticket is paid within 10 days, the ticket price will be dropped to $30.
Shannon O’Donovan-Zirnhelt, Banff’s engineering coordinator, said potential data to be collected from the pilot project includes the impact of parking rates on occupancy, turnover and length-of-stay.
She said the biggest advantage of implementing a pilot program is that the Town of Banff will get to experience a small sample size to see what potential impacts user pay parking may have on traffic patterns, public percent, visitors reaction and parking space availability.
That said, O’Donovan-Zirnhelt said there would be free parking right beside user pay parking so the results of the trial will need to be interpreted accordingly.
“The intent of paid parking is to reduce the number of people circling town looking for parking and to get them into a space quicker,” she said.
“We are not sure that will happen with the pilot because still 83 per cent of parking is free.”
Councillors Ted Christensen and Grant Canning voted against the trial, while Councillors Chip Olver, Corrie DiManno, Brian Standish and Mayor Karen Sorensen voiced support. Coun. Stavros Karlos was absent from the meeting.
Christensen said he fears tourists will head to Canmore or the Columbia Valley, rather than pay to park in Banff, and said an offer by Banff Lake Louise Hotel Motel Association (BLLHMA) to explore a shared parking partnership and other ideas need to be fully explored before looking at paid parking.
“I will not support this because I think we are not ready for it. We have 33 critical days of the year (where traffic is at capacity), and the rest of the time things seem to go pretty well,” he said.
Christensen said Banff should also consider discussion about a cap, given Banff’s limited infrastructure and capacity.
“What’s our cap? When do we hang a sign and say we’re full, come back in a hour,” he said.
Mayor Sorensen said that is not an option, pointing to Parks Canada’s manadate to increase visitation to Banff by two per cent a year and the province’s big push on marketing Banff and the region.
“We hear about how we used to have more visitors, but the fact is they were coming in on buses, they were not driving cars. There’d be 60 people in one vehicle,” she said.
“When you look at Alberta and people living in the region, they come up for a day or a night and they are coming in cars. With respect to the past plebiscite 14 years ago, we were living in a bus-driven market.”
The initial capital costs for the pilot project are $5,000 per lot for installation of signage and pay stations and will be funded by pay parking revenues. There is a projection the paid parking trial may result in $200,000 in net revenues.
“This is not about revenues, it’s about changing the behaviour of locals and getting data on visitors,” said Sorensen.
Officials with BLLHMA say they continue to believe the majority of Banff’s parking issues can be addressed through improved communication and education efforts to residents.
Darren Reeder, the group’s executive director, said BLLHMA is concerned about the potential financial impact on the local workforce, notwithstanding the “initial warning” that will be put in place during the pilot project.
“The cost of living relative to wage earning potential already has Banff at a distinct disadvantage compared to other communities from a labour attraction and retention perspective,” he said.
“BLLHMA is worried the Town may be sending the wrong message to our workforce in the absence of a comprehensive communication and education campaign that describes the community’s parking dilemma and the responsibility of every worker to be a part of the solution.”
