Montreal’s new parking policy aims to simplify rules, make it easier to find spots

JASON MAGDER, MONTREAL GAZETTE
Published on: December 16, 2015 | Last Updated: December 16, 2015 7:24 PM EST

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Theo Zoumboulis said he has received many parking tickets in Montreal.

The business owner said when he’s rushed and heading to a meeting, he often doesn’t have time to look at all the signs, and can get penalized as a result.

“It’s very confusing,” Zoumboulis said. “They should definitely try to make it easier to understand all the rules.”

Mayor Denis Coderre said he hopes the days of six different parking signs on one sign post are numbered. The city’s new parking policy, approved by the executive committee on Wednesday, strives to simplify rules, and make it easier for motorists to find available spaces.

“Things have to be simple,” Coderre said. “When people come to the city and they see six parking signs on one post, there is a problem.”

The policy will be voted on at city hall next month, and will be the subject of public consultations over the winter. It’s expected the policy will be adopted by spring.

The new policy includes:

  • Fees for parking meters that would change based on demand and where they are located.
  • Sensors at parking spots and adaptive signs to direct people to available spaces. The information about available spaces would also be available on smartphones.
  • Having better indications at parking spots like green lights at the top of meters to show when parking is permitted and red lights when parking is not permitted.
  • Harmonizing reserved parking in residential areas so there is a city-wide rate system and a general guideline for boroughs to follow when creating reserved spots.
  • Creating a city-owned agency to manage parking, repatriating Stationnement de Montréal, which is operated by the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal.

Coderre said parking should not be seen as a source of revenue for the city, but instead as a way to boost the economy and cut emissions, by becoming more efficient and ensuring that parking spots are freed up quickly so the new customers can park in commercial zones and shop. The policy envisions a way for motorists to pay once and still be able to move their cars several times within the same zone during the paid time period.

As for modulating parking fees, the city could adopt free parking on days when there is low demand, to encourage people to come downtown, and higher fees during peak times to discourage cars and cut down on congestion. Coderre suggested the new policy could allow people to park for free in parts of the city on Sundays.

The city could also modulate fees for different streets to encourage people to park in parts of the city, like making it more expensive to park downtown, but cheaper to park around métro stations to encourage the use of public transit.

Coderre added the policy could cut down on greenhouse gases because people will be circling for less time before they find an available spot.

The policy is modelled in part after a similar policy adopted several years ago by the city of San Francisco, which has resulted in a significant decrease in congestion in that city’s core.

The environmental group CRE-Montréal applauded the policy, saying it could help cut down on emissions from congestion.

Coderre said he also wants to tackle the situation in several boroughs where there are vastly different rules and rates for reserved parking on residential streets for permit-holders.

“They’ll have to do it in a framework that’s very specific, so you won’t have vignettes (permit stickers) that cost $300; forget about that,” Coderre said. “And you won’t have 200 vignettes for 100 residents.”

He said he’d like to see owners of electric cars get a break on reserved parking in residential sectors.

Opposition Projet Montréal welcomed Wednesday’s announcement, saying Coderre has basically adopted a policy that addresses all the concerns they have highlighted about parking.

“The mayor is basically saying to Projet Montréal that we are visionaries,” said François Croteau, the party’s critic on urban planning issues. “These are measures adopted or asked by Projet Montréal for many years.”

“The policy says there are enough parking spaces in Montreal, but they are poorly managed, and now management will improve,” he added.

He said he’s not concerned that the policy will centralize decision-making about reserved parking spaces, saying boroughs will still have the power to make their own decisions about those spaces.

The policy was also hailed by the business community on Wednesday.

Michel Leblanc, president of the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal, said having signs and mobile apps indicating available spots would be a boon to anyone who has business to do in the city.

“About 30 per cent of the traffic downtown is people looking for spots,” Leblanc said in a statement. “This represents a considerable loss of time and productivity for businesses.”

André Poulin, the executive director of Destination Centre-Ville, agreed. He pointed out that downtown merchants compete against stores located in the suburbs and off the island where there’s lots of available parking that is free.

“We have lost a lot of parking spaces in the last few years downtown,” Poulin said. “People have the perception that it’s difficult or expensive to park downtown. We need to change that perception.”

jmagder@montrealgazette.com

Twitter.com/JasonMagder

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