For the next three months, residents and visitors will encounter pay parking machines at five of Banff’s most popular parking lots as town officials collect data on occupancy rates, parking turnover and length of stay.
From August 1, 2014 through October 31, 2014, users will be charged a parking fee of $2 per hour, between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., at the following parking lots:
- 100 block of Bear Street (next to Town Hall)
- 200 block of Bear Street (across from the Bison Courtyard)
- 100 block of Beaver Street (behind the Clock Tower Mall)
- 100 block of Beaver Street (behind the Mount Royal Hotel)
- 200 block of Beaver Street (behind the Visitor Centre)
The pilot project aims to alter the driving habits of the town’s residents and encourage turnover of high-demand parking spots.
According to town estimates, up to 40 per cent of locals drive to work and several hundred workers commute from Canmore on a daily basis.
“We have a very robust public transportation system, Roam bus, which is taxpayer supported and very affordable,” explains Banff town councilor Stavros Karlos. “We want to ensure that all locals are able to use those systems, walk to work, bike to work through the summer months when we have our highest demand periods in order to free up valuable parking stalls in the downtown core for our visitors."
The paid parking trial is the result of analysis from industry experts which determined:
- 30 per cent of traffic in Banff is caused by drivers circling the core looking for available parking
- Residents occupy between 15 to 20 per cent of parking spots during peak hours
- 72 per cent of visitors surveyed in 2012 expected to pay or would be willing to pay for parking
There will be no charge for handicapped stalls during the pay parking trial.
The parking lots included in the pay parking trial account for nearly 200 of the town’s 1,200 parking stalls.
