City of Victoria staff are recommending increasing long-term daily parking rates at downtown parkades in an effort to reduce commuter parking and free up more spaces for shoppers.
“The parkades were originally built for short-term people to come downtown and shop,” said Mayor Lisa Helps. Monthly rates were increased about a year ago and that resulted in a five per cent drop in those parkers and the hope is this increase will do the same for daily long-term parkers, Helps said.
Staff are recommending increasing the daily maximum to $16 from $14 at the parkades on View, Broughton, Centennial and Johnson streets, and to $17.50 from $16 at the Yates Street parkade.
Thirty per cent of parkade spaces are used by daily users who stay all day. Another 25 per cent are rented out monthly leaving 45 per cent for short-term parking, said a report going to councillors Thursday.
About 83 per cent of transactions in city parkades are for three hours or less.
The monthly parking rates were increased last May — the first increase in a decade — and staff plan to implement another 10 per cent increase June 1.
That increase would bring the monthly rate to $220 at the View, Broughton and Yates parkades; to $185 at the Johnson parkade and to $165 at Centennial Square.
Helps said there is parking available in lots on the edges of downtown. She encourages people to consider other options such as transit, walking or biking. “So the monthly parkers can find other parking, particularly for downtown business owners who are parking in the downtown parkades and then worrying about places for their customers to park,” said Helps. “If people who are parking on a monthly basis would park a little bit further out, it would free up spots for more customers downtown.”
City parkades are now regularly full weekdays between of 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., a situation that is reflective of changes made four years ago.
Hoping to increase turnover in on-street parking and increase parkade use, the city introduced a number of parking changes, including reducing rates and making the first hour in parkades free.
It has worked.
City staff say parkade use has increased more than 75 per cent since 2014. But the need for long-term parking downtown has been exacerbated as more people come downtown and many private surface parking lots have been lost to new development.
The city manages about 4,300 parking spots — 2,000 on street, about 400 in surface parking lots and 1,935 in parkades.
City staff said there is a need for additional long-term parking in the city, but there currently are no plans to create additional parking lots or parkades.
Instead, the staff report said, the city will continue to work with the Downtown Victoria Business Association “to identify alternative solutions and privately-owned facilities in an effort to alleviate the capacity challenges in the short term.”
Association initiatives include:
• An online map identifying all publicly available parking spaces.
• Creating new park and shuttle/walk locations.
• Promoting bulk transit passes that employers can offer to employees at a discount.
• Connecting private parking operators with developers to explore opportunities to increase parking.
Parking continues to be a major source of revenue for the city. The staff report said total revenue from parking in 2017 (including from parkades, on street and surface lots, occupancy permits and fines) was $17.5 million against expenses of $7.7 million for a net of $9.8 million — $1.4 million more than budgeted.
Helps said she hasn’t ruled out at some point considering another city parkade. She said there may be potential for a parkade at the Royal Athletic Park parking lot.
“Because there’s already a parking lot there. So the best case scenario would be an underground parkade there with something on top whether it’s housing or whatever. But that’s a long-term solution,” Helps said.
“I wouldn’t rule that out but that’s not going to be a fix today or tomorrow.”
