Health Sciences Centre takes your car keys to add parking spots

A new overflow parking system is now up and running at the Health Sciences Centre in St. John's, offering a valet-like servicethe hospital hopes helps address its parking space crunch.

The new system deliberately packs cars into alotsothat they block other cars from leaving, and by doing so frees up45 additional spaces for visitorsand 96 spaces for staff, said Daniel Parsons, Eastern Health's director of planning and engineering support.

"Generally, what happens is if you do park in that location,you're going to be blocked in," he said.

That blocking is restricted to one parking lotdesignated as an overflow lot, that operates during peak timesfrom Monday to Fridayand is staffed with special attendants.

Those attendants then have the authorityto move cars around while their owners are inside the hospital.

"Anyone that avails of this service and actually blocks in a vehicle, they are required to give us their keys, so we can make sure we can get the vehicles out of the way," he said.

No spots, missed appointments

The service is voluntary, and cars will only be blocked if parking at the hospital is at capacity.

"We really are trying to ensure there's additional capacity so that clients and visitors can make it to see their loved ones, or get to their appointments on time," he said.

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But one man told CBChe circled the hospital parking lots so long he missed a recent appointment, despite having arrived 40minutes ahead of time.

"I thought that was early enough. The parking was horrible.I got there and the parking was packed," said George Miminis,

Miminis, who works nearby but has mobility issues that prevent him from walking to the hospital, said he has in the past taken taxis rather than try to find a spot for appointments.

While Miminis, who is married to CBCN.L. hostRamona Dearing, said hospital staff were polite when he called to cancel his appointment because of a lack of parking,he still sees the parking as a big issue.

"To their defence, the place is very, very busy. The busiest place in town, I'd say," he said.

"They've extended the parking, but it's not enough, and I really don't know what the solution would be."

More spots years away

The new overflow system, which has been in place for about three weeks, has so far parked an additional 400 visitor cars, said Parsons.

While Parsons said it's unfortunate Miminis couldn't find a spot, he did ask future drivers to keep an eye out for the overflow lot attendants, and staff will continue to tweak its operations.

"We're always looking for ways to improve services," he said.

Miminishasa blue zone parking pass, and Parsons said the hospital has added 10 additional such spaces in 2018, with the number of blue zone spaces now double what Service NL requires.

The hospital has received complaints about the tight parking situation, said Parsons. A 1,000-spot parking garage is on the horizon, however, to be built as part of the new mental health and addictions facility.

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While that will "dramatically increase parking," said Parsons, that garage is years away from being built.

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