By Geoff Smith (@GeoffSmithLNN on Twitter)

Drivers, enforcement officers face learning curve on new parking system

May 28, 2018 | 11:32 AM

LETHBRIDGE – It’s going to be a learning curve for the public – and for the people who write tickets – now that Lethbridge’s new downtown parking system has taken effect.

As of Monday, May 28 the bright-yellow kiosks have replaced the old meters that were located at each parking space. Drivers will now have to take note of what zone they’re parked in, enter their zone and licence plate number at a kiosk, and pay with cash or a credit card. The zones are numbered based on offering two, three, or ten hours of parking.

The machines don’t take Interac debit cards, something Mayor Chris Spearman only learned when he attempted to use the new machine.

“That surprised me. I’m not sure what the future of that is, but it would be great to take debit cards as well as credit cards,” Spearman told reporters.

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Val Fellger, the city’s parking coordinator, explained most of the machines available don’t have the option to offer debit transactions. She said the city adopted the Way to Park mobile app to give drivers a payment alternative. She added machines with the ability for “tap” transactions for debit was “cost-prohibitive.” Could it be added in the future?

“If the costs come down, absolutely. That would take a lot of larger municipalities pushing the vendors to make that change,” Fellger explained. People without a credit card can still use coins.

The advantages being touted by the city include the ability to move your vehicle within a zone during the time you’ve paid for, and the different payment options that couldn’t be offered with the old meters. You won’t be able to “top up” at a spot; the city wants turnover, to make the downtown more accessible to more people.

The city also notes the new machines won’t accept payment on evenings or weekends when free parking is in effect. Previously some people may have unknowingly plugged meters when they didn’t need to.

Senior bylaw enforcement officer Dave Henley is excited about the new vehicles being used for enforcement. As a commissionaire drives along, multiple sensors will capture images of the parked vehicles and plates, and flag the ones that aren’t paid up, at which point a ticket is written up just as before.

But it’ll take some getting used to.

“The technology is fantastic, but at the end of the day, it’s still a person using this device. They’ll be able to capture more information; they’ll be able to cover more ground. When there’s a lot of vehicles in violation, they’ll still have to stop. It’ll still take time for them to determine whether that violation is accurate or not and to write that ticket.”

Henley said the first week will strictly be learning and training, and for a couple of weeks after that commissionaires will only be issuing warnings. Yellow-shirted ambassadors will be on the streets for at least the next two weeks to help motorists who may be struggling to use the kiosks. They’ll also be stopping by seniors’ residences to provide instruction.

Some drivers may be surprised to see kiosks on downtown blocks that previously offered paid parking. Fellger said it’s an effort to make the entire downtown equitable.

“What we were finding is, those blocks that had time-restricted parking, (drivers) were parked in all day, not creating some parking turnover opportunities,” she said.

The replacement of the parking meter system was budgeted at $2 million, and Fellger said they are below that total.

Parking rates remain as before: one dollar per hour in the two- and three-hour zones, and 45 cents per hour for ten-hour zones (with a minimum four-hour purchase). There’s a minimum charge of $1.80 for credit card transactions due to processing fees.