Building on the success of its street parking app, Victoria plans to introduce an app motorists can use for parkades.
“We’re piloting a new system where customers can use an app on their phone to enter and exit the parkades,” Susanne Thompson, city director of finance, told councillors during a budget workshop.
“That will provide for faster and more convenient entry and exit, reduce the number of paper tickets used, as well as reduce the wear and tear on the equipment.”
Thompson said the city is in the final stages of app selection.
The plan is to test the app with monthly parkers at one of the parkades.
“I think pay-by-cellphone in and out of the parkade is awesome, hope that that works and I hope that we can do that in every parkade,” said Mayor Lisa Helps, calling it a “smart city” solution.
“We use our smart phones for lots of things, so instead of swiping and tickets and this and that, you go through the gate, your phone says you’re in. You go out the gate and your credit card is debited.”
The city’s parking app was such a hit it quickly overtook the city’s parking card as a method of payment.
Parking continues to be a major source of revenue for the city, which is budgeting $16.8 million gross annual revenue from its five parkades, its surface meters and lots, and ticketing. Of that money about half — $8.45 million — will be net.
The city projects revenue from parkades will continue to increase at about two per cent a year.
Helps asked how that increase would be possible, given that most parkades are already often full.
Thompson said even though the city is exceeding its parkade occupancy targets of between 80 and 85 per cent, “we do believe we will also be increasing parkade rates more regularly than perhaps in the past. “But that is, of course, subject to council decision,” she said.
The city is, however, projecting a slight decrease in parking ticket revenue, which at a budgeted $3.25 million next year, would be about $40,000 less than the budget for this year.
The decrease is due to the fact that fewer tickets are being written since the city cancelled its contract with the Corps of Commissionaires and hired its own “parking ambassadors” for enforcement.
The city also has an app that residents can use to alert them of garbage and green bin pickup dates and one that can be used for everything from reporting potholes to applying for work.
