Reserved C-Train parking and increased fines go before Calgary council committee

Like our chinooks, the issue of parking in Calgary perennially blows in to heat things up.

On Wednesday, a city committee will be tasked with considering whether to make C-Train park-and-ride lots reserved-only parking.

"Making the lots 100 per cent reserved Ithink is a terrible idea and Ithink that it goes exactly against our goal especially in a time of declining ridership which is to encourage people to take transit," said Mayor Naheed Nenshi.

More revenue options

The city used to charge three dollars perday at the lots, but city council votedto abolish the fees back in 2011.

Nenshi said if the city wants to find a way to raise more revenue, there are options.

"Should we figure out a way to charge people more who live outside of the city limits for parking? Yes we should, because they don't use their property taxes to pay for transit," he said.

"Should we look at demand-based pricing that allows people to use the spots on a daily basis that are not used by the monthly parkers? Absolutely."

Parking fine increases

The committee will also take alook at revisions to Calgary's parkingbylaw that will substantiallyraise fines.

The reason for the increase is to bring Calgary's bylaw inline with the provincial Traffic Safety Act, which raised fines in May of last year.

Under the new rules, a parking ticket that isn't paid early would increase to $68 from $50, while the finefor an abandoned vehiclethat isn't paid early would increase to $270 from $200.

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