Commissionaire Richard Huculiak walks through downtown Lethbridge checking expired meters on Oct. 3. The city will be replacing the meters with a new system next spring.
Downtown Lethbridge will finally be receiving a new parking system as the last upgrade was over 10 years ago. The change of meters is long overdue as the lifespan for the meters is typically 10 years, the ones in use now have surpassed that mark by a few years.
The new system will now be pay-by-plate technology where customers pay at an on-street kiosk with their license plate number, instead of using coins. The new machines will accept credit cards as well as coins.
The City of Lethbridge approved the replacement of meters to new modern parking technology that will be easier and more flexible for customers. The process and conversation about changing the meters started back in 2014 and has gone through many steps.
The city presented options to the public including updating the current meters at a lower cost, but got an overwhelming support for change. Val Fellger, the city parking coordinator, knew the end was close after the public’s reaction of options.
“Eighty one percent said give us something better. We like this system, look at this more. So that’s what we did, we spent another nine months researching what implementing that new system would be,” said Fellger as she was relieved to know the public is getting the transformation they want.
After Fellger discovered that customers wanted change the biggest one was how they paid for parking, the new system addresses that as well as benefiting the city.
“What we have heard from our customers is that they want more options, specifically to payment. So we can upgrade to a new system that actually gives us some data that can be useful in what happens with downtown on-street parking in the future,” said Fellger who hopes the system can help benefit businesses downtown.
“So what the data is going to allow us to do is find out how the heavily parked in areas are being used. If that’s actually customer parking with a high amount of turnover or is it employee parking, clogging up those spaces all day and not allowing that business turnover,” adds Fellger.
Shops located in downtown are happy about the flexibility it will create for their customers. Paul Edwards, owner of Drunken Sailor, expresses that people may want to spend more time in his store rather than worrying about their meter.
“People are always having to run back to their car and they might be two or three blocks away. If they can pay via credit card then that would be better,” said Edwards who is excited for the change it can bring to his customers.
The installment and construction of the new systems doesn’t worry Edwards as the change will motivate customers to keep visiting.
“People can get to a store when they want to. Those that want to will get here,”
The procurement process is hoping to be started right away which would lead the system to be installed late spring or early summer. Once all of them are installed they will have a full turn on of the system for the end of summer 2017.
