Motorists will have to pay to park on downtown streets on Sundays starting this weekend, but city officials say they’ll ease into the new regime by first issuing information notices instead of tickets to those not paying.
“They’re not even tickets,” said city spokesman Bill Eisenhauer. “We’re going to be issuing information and warnings just to remind people of the new parking fees on Sundays and reminding them for the next time they come downtown on Sunday that they need to pay for their parking.”
The new Sunday parking rules mean pay parking will be in effect at on-street meters daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. seven days a week.
Parking in the city’s five parkades will continue to be free on Sundays and holidays and from 6 p.m. until 8 a.m. In parkades, the first hour of parking will continue to be free.
City councillors plan to use the estimated $500,000 to $600,000 in new parking revenue to help provide free bus passes for city youth under 18. The estimated cost of the youth bus passes is about $1 million a year.
The change is also designed to improve parking turnover on the street, freeing up more spaces for customers.
Sunday on-street parking at downtown meters will have a four-hour time limit, compared to a 90-minute limit the rest of the week.
The hourly Sunday parking rate downtown will be $2, and $3 an hour the rest of the week. In spots that normally charge $2.50 an hour, the Sunday rate will be $1 an hour.
Street parking will continue to be free 6 p.m. to 9 a.m. seven days a week and all day on holidays.
The city is looking at increasing hours of some part-time parking-enforcement staff to cover Sunday enforcement and might have to hire more, Eisenhauer said.
There are no plans to change parking enforcement on Sundays other than to enforce metered parking, he said.
Jeff Bray, executive director of the Downtown Victoria Business Association, said his members were open to the idea of charging for Sunday parking, provided the parkades remained free.
He said even with the longer four-hour limit, the move should result in improved turnover.
“I think for people who are parking all day, it still does incentivize those individuals to use the free parkades and keep the street parking more for the shorter turnaround.”
