HRM’s new parking payment system getting mixed reviews
Posted Oct 29, 2020 03:45:00 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The chief executive officer of the Downtown Halifax Business Commission is hearing mixed reviews about our new parking payment system.
Paul MacKinnon recently posted an informal poll on Twitter to get feedback.
“Twitter polls always have to be taken with a grain of salt … [but] it's pretty much split evenly,” he told NEWS 95.7's The Sheldon MacLeod Show. “Half of them think it's worse, half of them either think it's better, or it's better but needs some changes.”
The new system launched about two and a half weeks ago after Halifax Regional Municipality replaced parking meters with pay stations.
Parts of the peninsula have been divided up into zones A, B, C, D, E, F and G. It will cost $2 an hour to park for the first two hours and $6 an hour after that.
Downtown Dartmouth is Zone H, which will cost $1.50 an hour for the first two hours and $4 an hour after that.
On-street parking remains free on weekdays after 6:00 p.m. and on weekends and on holidays.
With parking meters, paying by coin or the hotspot app were the only options, but with the new system Haligonians can use coins, debit, credit or their smartphones.
Just park the car, make note of the zone on the nearby sign, head to any pay station and input your licence plate number along with other relevant information.
The hotspot app is not required, but if you have it, it will save you the walk to a pay station.
“It's parking by zone, so if I pay for two hours and park on Barrington Street, and I want to then move my car further south down to Hollis Street, I don't have to repay, I can just move my car because it captures me in the entire zone,” MacKinnon explained. “So there's a bit more flexibility.”
Drivers can only park in each zone for a maximum of four hours which MacKinnon said should mean more turnover, making finding a space in the downtown cores easier, but it isn't making “meter feeders” happy.
“For those people, we're trying to encourage them to find alternates, whether it's getting transit or getting parking passes or parking all day at one of the many indoor lots,” he said.
“I can tell you the indoor lots are not full, whether it's Scotia Square, MetroPark or along the waterfront, you can go into those lots pretty much anytime and you will find a spot in there.”
MacKinnon has heard of some glitches with the system and some confusion with users, but he said HRM plans to be fairly forgiving as we all learn how it works.
HRM's new parking zones
