The NPA wants to give a break to motorists who use parking meters.
If elected, the party announced Wednesday, it will drop the 10 p.m. meter time limit to 8 p.m. across the city and make all parking meters outside downtown free on Sundays and statutory holidays.
“There’s no reason Vancouverites should pay for parking that late into the evening,” said NPA mayoral candidate Kirk LaPointe from a sidewalk lined with meters at 41st and Yew in Kerrisdale. “These actions are going to remove some of the irritants that drivers experience and we need to do a lot on this.”
LaPointe said his information is the city annually collects $42 million in revenue from parking meters and has a $3 million contingency fund related to parking. LaPointe didn’t provide an estimate on how much revenue would be lost under his initiatives but said enforcement costs would be reduced.
“We don’t know because the city won’t tell us what it captures between the hours of eight and 10,” he said but suspected revenue collected in the evening is less than during the day.
LaPointe said meter time limits that run from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. punish many people, including those whose only option is to use a car for work or health reasons. Also affected by “Gregor Robertson’s money grab” are small businesses whose customers include motorists and parents with young children who require strollers when on an outing, he said.
“Sometimes a car is the only option,” said LaPointe, noting the NPA will also promote mobile technology and smart meters to share information on parking availability and explore the use of variable pricing to better match demand with supply.
Vision Vancouver Coun. Raymond Louie, who is seeking re-election and is chairperson of council’s finance committee, said his conservative estimate is the city would lose $7 million per year in parking meter revenue under LaPointe’s scheme.
Louie said the majority of parking meter revenue goes into the city’s overall budget while some goes towards replacement and maintenance of meters. Cutting $7 million from the city’s budget could mean cuts to areas such as policing, fire services and the inability for the city to create child care spaces.
“This is exactly why the NPA shouldn’t be trusted, and this move puts the quality of life at risk for our citizens,” said Louie, noting Vision has rolled out policies on increasing child care spaces, pushing for a subway and committing to build more rental housing. “How does [LaPointe] balance the books? Is he raising taxes by one or two per cent? Or, is he chopping services? He needs to come clean.”
Vision introduced the 10 p.m. time limts at parking meters in 2010. Revenues soared from $31,327,000 in 2009 to $44,136,000 in 2013, according to the city's financial reports.
