City increases downtown parking rates

[Dion]

Calgary is already the most expensive city in Canada to park in but now it's even more expensive.

The city has hiked the cost to park downtown, citing the need to keep up with the rate changes at private lots.

"It's gouging, don't you think? I mean, how does a guy make it to park downtown, it's crazy," says one person CTV News spoke to.

To park on a downtown street during primetime now costs $5 and hour which is a dollar more than what it used to cost.

The twenty-five percent increase means Calgary has the highest meter parking rate in the country.

http://calgary.ctv.ca/servlet/an/loc...ub=CalgaryHome

[Bobblehead]

They need to do that to further dissuade people from driving downtown, now that they raised transit passes and are implementing a fee to park at park-n-ride. Why would anyone go downtown to shop?

[Hemi-Cuda]

this is why i hate working downtown. too expensive to drive, so i'm forced to still get gouged taking transit and having to get crammed like a sardine in a c-train. first chance i get to move to a different department not based in downtown i take

[Dan02]

I like their justification, the raised them to be competitive with the private parking lots, even though they turned a 22 million dollar profit last year.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by Dion

The city has hiked the cost to park downtown, citing the need to keep up with the rate changes at private lots.

Yeah, I saw that part on the news. So they raise their prices to be "competative", then a few months later private lots raise their rates again, then the city, then private lots, etc.

So what the city is doing is enabling prices to go up; rather than keeping private lots in check.

[Draug]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

They need to do that to further dissuade people from driving downtown, now that they raised transit passes and are implementing a fee to park at park-n-ride. Why would anyone go downtown to shop?

That is exactly the problem ...

Instead of building enough parking, enough roads, and enough transit and then letting free market capitalism dictate what things should cost, the city restricts one or another.

All we are left with are systems that do not work for anyone. Driving downtown is a poor solution. Transit is a poor solution. It sucks for all of us.

Last spring, I spent a few days in New York. We parked our car in a parkade near Wall Street each day for $29.00 US. It is $25 for a Daily maximum here in the Centennial Parkade. The monthly rate was something like $399. It is actually more than that, at $435, in the Centennial Parkade. Isn't it great that our parking is pretty much as expensive as Wall Street???

[Russic]

After the craziness that ensued around here when the transit rates increased I'm blown away it took all day for this thread to pop up! To me the parking increase is far more annoying than the transit increase simply for the reasons given. Keep up with the private companies? I'd much rather pay a higher transit cost to keep the staffing up and keep the platforms monitored than pay a higher parking cost just so a division that made a surplus last year can make a little bit more (hey it is a recession after all).

[Ducay]

Don't have any references handy, but I thought the downtown core already had more parking stalls than the city wants? ie they have a higher ratio of stalls to office space than they wanted.

While many of us wish there were more and cheaper parking, I understand both sides of the argument for the small amount of parking stalls in the core.

[Mr.Coffee]

Well the good news is that since everyone is getting laid off and not coming to downtown, the city will have to take a good hard look at how insane its behaving with regard to its prices.

Outrageously expensive.

[Draug]

Originally Posted by Ducay

While many of us wish there were more and cheaper parking, I understand both sides of the argument for the small amount of parking stalls in the core.

Why? How?

The city makes Transit more expensive at every opportunity too. Charging for the Park and Ride lots is lunacy in my mind. But, even worse, is that the transit already seems to be at 100% capacity during commute times.

So, what exactly is accomplished by limiting the number of parking stalls in the core?

I think that pure capitalism should decide. If its more profitable to build parkades than office towers, parkades should be built. A natural balance of office space to parking space would evolve.

[HOOT]

Are you kidding me?

Dear lord they rape Calgarians! I remember when I first moved to Calgary from Victoria and it was $3.50 vs. the $1.00 an hour. I can see how it's a bigger city, etc, etc. But come on $5/hour is robbery.

People around here complain about $100/month (unlimited)downtown parking. Who would have thought a piece of payment would be such a cash cow.

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by Draug

Last spring, I spent a few days in New York. We parked our car in a parkade near Wall Street each day for $29.00 US. It is $25 for a Daily maximum here in the Centennial Parkade. The monthly rate was something like $399. It is actually more than that, at $435, in the Centennial Parkade. Isn't it great that our parking is pretty much as expensive as Wall Street???

They said on the news tonight Calgary is now the 3rd most expensive city in North America to park, behind only LA and New York.

We are a bunch of suckers.

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by Draug

Why? How?

The city makes Transit more expensive at every opportunity too. Charging for the Park and Ride lots is lunacy in my mind. But, even worse, is that the transit already seems to be at 100% capacity during commute times.

So, what exactly is accomplished by limiting the number of parking stalls in the core?

I think that pure capitalism should decide. If its more profitable to build parkades than office towers, parkades should be built. A natural balance of office space to parking space would evolve.

The city limits parking stalls in the core to A) encourage transit and carpooling B) (to a lesser extent), encourage growth in areas other than the core.

Could you imagine the chaos is the city doubled the amount of stalls in the core? It'd take all day to get to work.
Make note of the trends to build outside the core, the development zones around the LRT stations are a great example.

[enthused]

Well at least transit prices aren't going up too. Oh wait...

[Draug]

Originally Posted by Ducay

The city limits parking stalls in the core to A) encourage transit and carpooling B) (to a lesser extent), encourage growth in areas other than the core.

Could you imagine the chaos is the city doubled the amount of stalls in the core? It'd take all day to get to work.

Make note of the trends to build outside the core, the development zones around the LRT stations are a great example.

Well, they can 'encourage' transit riding all they want. But, sadly, the trains are full during rush hour. You have to wait 3 or 4 trains to get on if you arent int he furthest suburbs. So, they clearly dont need to encourage anymore.

And yes, if they doubled the stalls downtown, it would be gridlock. So, you build more roads into the core too. The city has a freeze on building more roads into the core, but for what reason?

If you take away the artificial limits, the right balance of stalls, roads, and transit riders would evolve. Environmentalists would be happy taking the train, and others would happy driving to the core while paying the price the market dictated.

Growth in areas outside the core is great, as you point out. But, in order for that to be effective, there needs to be a TON of roads built. You cant drive effectively to these areas, and unless you live on a train route, transit takes hours to traverse the city to these areas.

[calgaryrocks]

yep, this makes me soo glad i live near a train station (12 minute walk, sucks in winter tho). they raise transit prices, charge for park and ride and raise the price to park downtown. there is no way to avoid paying more to get to work. if the city wants to encourage ridership, it needs to improve the transit system so people can actually get on trains in the morning, and people who aren't lucky enough to live near a train station can get to work without leaving at 5 in the morning.
seriously, the average is over $400 to park downtown, most expensive in canada. i guess thats what happens when people cant get on transit, so they drive and the city wont build more parkades/roads for the parkades, so demand creates nutsoid prices. howabout less train stations downtown and more 4 car trains more often, an underground train that doesn't have to stop at lights would be good too. less stops and less crossover of lines/streets=more trains can flow. then again that all costs alot of money. hopefully the city is putting all of the new money they will get from parking towards fixing the infrastructure problems calgary has.

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by Draug

Well, they can 'encourage' transit riding all they want. But, sadly, the trains are full during rush hour. You have to wait 3 or 4 trains to get on if you arent int he furthest suburbs. So, they clearly dont need to encourage anymore.

And yes, if they doubled the stalls downtown, it would be gridlock. So, you build more roads into the core too. The city has a freeze on building more roads into the core, but for what reason?

If you take away the artificial limits, the right balance of stalls, roads, and transit riders would evolve. Environmentalists would be happy taking the train, and others would happy driving to the core while paying the price the market dictated.

Growth in areas outside the core is great, as you point out. But, in order for that to be effective, there needs to be a TON of roads built. You cant drive effectively to these areas, and unless you live on a train route, transit takes hours to traverse the city to these areas.

The fact is the city doesn't want to have such huge congestion in the core. They dont want to build more roads into the core. They place these limits for a reason.
Sure transit is busy, but its also growing. The more users = more growth. (aka more trains, buses).

The city doesn't want you driving to work at all anyway. Thats the whole point of the $3 park and ride lots. They want to encourage feeder bus use.

Like I said, I understand both sides of the coin. Im a commuter some days and occasionally take the transit (which I agree isnt amazing at all). But I see where the city is coming from with their policies.

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by calgaryrocks

yep, this makes me soo glad i live near a train station (12 minute walk, sucks in winter tho). they raise transit prices, charge for park and ride and raise the price to park downtown. there is no way to avoid paying more to get to work. if the city wants to encourage ridership, it needs to improve the transit system so people can actually get on trains in the morning, and people who aren't lucky enough to live near a train station can get to work without leaving at 5 in the morning.
seriously, the average is over $400 to park downtown, most expensive in canada. i guess thats what happens when people cant get on transit, so they drive and the city wont build more parkades/roads for the parkades, so demand creates nutsoid prices. howabout less train stations downtown and more 4 car trains more often, an underground train that doesn't have to stop at lights would be good too. less stops and less crossover of lines/streets=more trains can flow. then again that all costs alot of money. hopefully the city is putting all of the new money they will get from parking towards fixing the infrastructure problems calgary has.

Nail on the head! Solution is better transit, not more roads and parking.

[HOOT]

How often do they add trains or buses?

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by HOOT

How often do they add trains or buses?

They just bought a few more c-trains cars. Recently bought a bunch of the double-length bendy busses, and introduced a fleet of smaller sized busses.


New C-trains

In 2006-2008 a total of 40 new Siemens SD-160 LRV's (Unit #2233-2272) were delivered and are all in service as of March 2008.

New Buses

• 2001 Fleet #7701-7782 -All 81 are all at the Victoria Park Garage
• 2002 Fleet # 7783 -7817 All 34 are at the Victoria Park Garage
• 2003 Fleet # 7818-7858 All 41 are the Spring Gardens Garage
• 2004 Fleet # 7859-7890 All 32 are the Spring Gardens Garage
• 2005 Fleet # 7891-7920 All 30 are the Spring Gardens Garage
• 2005 Fleet # 7921-7962 All 42 are at the Victoria Park Garage
• 2006 Fleet #7963-7980 All 18 are at the Anderson Garage
• 2007 Fleet # 7981-8015
• 2007 Fleet are spilted between Victoria Park Garage 14 and Spring Gardens Garage 21
• 2008 Fleet #8016-8065 All 50 are at the Spring Gardens Garage
• 2008 Fleet New Flyer D40LFR #8066-8096- on order to be based out at Springs Gardens Garage

New Flyer D60LFR (2007 - 2008), 21 units. Fleet# 6001-6021 in service and 6022 to 6041 on order to run out Victoria Park Garage

• ElDorado National EZ Rider II 30' (2008), 12 units

An order of 30 D40LFR and a further order of 20 D60LFR buses was announced by New Flyer in March 2008 [2] for delivery at a future date. The first of the units in the D60LFR order began arriving in early September 2008 and are anticipated to enter service in the fall.
In 2006, an order for ElDorado National EZ Rider II buses was placed to supplement the fleet for use on medium ridership routes; 12 of these vehicles are also now in service supplementing the community shuttles on some routes. A tender for a further 28 community shuttle replacements was issued in July 2008, and is anticipated to be awarded to ElDorado National.
In addition, there are about 100 shuttle buses used on routes with lower ridership. Most of these vehicles are based on the Ford Econoline E-450 platform with various bodies from Crestline (GCII, Aerotech) with an exception of four units having Corbeil bus bodies. In late July 2008, a tender for 28 new 30' Community Shuttles was issued by Calgary Transit.