BANFF – Visitor pay parking fees look set to rise in the tourist town and a monthly paid parking pass for commuters who work in Banff is under consideration.
Mayor Corrie DiManno said she believes the visitor pay parking rate increase from $3 to $5 in the peak summer season and from $2 to $4 off-season – which won't be finalized until budget deliberations on Jan. 18 – is a modest increase.
“This increase is warranted for some practical reasons of trying to work towards decreasing congestion as well as being able to generate that sustainable revenue for projects,” said the mayor.
“It’s going to help us ease that pressure off of our tax base, especially when it comes to the big ticket projects that are going to help move the needle on congestion in our community.”
In July 2021, the Town of Banff introduced visitor pay parking to tackle the increasing parking and congestion problems in the national park townsite, which is visited by about four million people a year.
Free nine-hour parking is provided at the train station parking lot, Bear Street parkade and along Bow Avenue.
The idea is that paid parking zones combined with free parking areas create incentives that will make parking stalls more frequently available downtown.
Adrian Field, director of engineering for the Town of Banff, said the visitor pay parking and residential parking permit system is currently meeting some of the principal goals of encouraging intercept parking and mode shift.
However, he said the system is falling short of targets in terms of managing parking occupancy – most lots are full and peak occupancy in all visitor pay parking stalls increased from 96 per cent in 2019 to 98 per cent in 2022.
“An increase in rate may help to increase stall turnover and/or encourage visitors to leave their vehicles at their accommodation – thereby reducing congestion caused by vehicles circling to find parking,” said Field.
“The metric of only six per cent of parkers choosing to extend time indicates that many visitors may be purchasing parking for longer periods than they actually stay, rather than needing to extend time, and therefore that they may be willing to pay more to park.”
Under the current fee structure, net revenues from pay parking are estimated to be $2.1 million in 2023, $2.14 million in 2024 and $2.17 million in 2025.
Hiking the fee to $5 in summer and $4 in winter would provide another $1.15 million in net revenue in 2023, $1.72 million in 2024 and $1.75 million in 2025.
To date, parking revenues have paid for increased Roam services, fare-free local Roam routes for residents, and an e-bike rebate program among others. The fees are also targeted to go toward an electric bus purchase and the creation of a dedicated bus lane on Sulphur Mountain.
DiManno said visitor pay parking helps ease pressure on the tax base and provides a substantial revenue increase that could be used to help support other initiatives.
“I think it can have a positive impact on a sustainable transportation network, but also on the lives of residents,” she said.
The governance and finance committee recommended council make the change in pay parking rates effective May 2023, but no decision is final until budget deliberations, which are slated for Jan. 18. It was a 5-1 vote with Coun. Hugh Pettigrew the lone dissenting vote. Coun. Barb Pelham was absent from the meeting.
The committee has also asked administration to explore strategies, including incentives and disincentives for reducing the amount of single-occupied vehicles driven by commuters coming to work in the town.
In addition, administration has been tasked with investigating options for creating a monthly pass program for commuters who work in Banff.
A municipal survey showed that 55 per cent of vehicles – approximately 550 vehicles – entering the townsite between the hours of 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. have a single occupant. It is believed most of these drivers are regional commuters coming to work and parking in the free long-term spaces.
As council considers whether or not to begin charging for parking on Bow Avenue and Bear Street parkade, Coun. Grant Canning said he wanted to explore the possibility of a paid monthly pass for workers commuting from out-of-town.
“I don’t know exactly what that would look like as far as costs, but I do think it’s valid because at this point we’re still not creating any real disincentive to commute in from somewhere else other than by private vehicles. It is still free to park and it costs you to ride the transit bus,” he said.
“I agree with the challenges we have around staffing and we never want to provide so much of a disincentive they might not want to come here at all, and potentially work somewhere else, but I do think it’s not unreasonable to look at some sort of fee-based monthly parking pass program.”
Meanwhile, Canmore, Jasper and Sylvan Lake have peak parking rates of $3, but downtown Calgary sits at $10-12 an hour; Vail, Colorado is anywhere from $13 to $40 an hour; and Niagara-on-the-Lake charges $4.75 an hour. In Banff, the Cascade Plaza charges $7 an hour and the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel charges $13 an hour.
Couns. Canning and Hugh Pettigrew thought a jump to $5 for summer and $4 for winter was too much too soon.
“When you start going down the road of large incremental increases, you run the real risk with the perception of the expense of the community,” said Canning.
“To effectively double our paid parking rates overnight, that is a large increase.”
Christensen, on the other hand, wanted to hike the pay parking fees even higher to $7 an hour in summer and $5 an hour in winter.
“We’re in critical times with our parking. I think it’s a time to be bold,” he said.
“I don’t think we have to shy away from the concept that visitor paid parking is a revenue generator that’s important to our community.”
With a change in parking rates, administration is also recommending a similar adjustment in fines so as not to give people an incentive not to park for parking.
“It would be less expensive to pay the fine than new rates,” said Silvio Adamo, the director of protective services for the Town of Banff.
