Banff politicians may end up deciding against holding a plebiscite on paid parking in 2017 based on the initial success of several initiatives to free up parking space during the busy summer tourist season.
Town council, which instituted a trial on user pay parking two summers ago, indicated it would hold a plebiscite on the controversial issue during the 2017 municipal election, or sooner, if the parking shortfall in the downtown core grew to 150 stalls.
Now, though, officials don’t believe that shortfall will be reached based on many of the short-term measures put in place, including an education campaign to get people to walk, bike or catch the bus and an enforcement crackdown on issuing parking tickets.
Mayor Karen Sorensen said administration will seek council’s direction on whether they wish to proceed with a plebiscite in 2017 regardless, and if so, what the question to be asked of residents would be.
“With the observations and lessons learned, I think administration intends to bring back to us the question of is a plebiscite necessary, which to me would indicate is paid parking necessary?” she said.
“I believe the trial showed that paid parking was an effective way to change behaviour, but I would also comment that this last summer, when we did not have any paid parking in place, we saw a change in behaviour,” she added.
“If there’s an appetite for paid parking, it’s definitely going to plebiscite, but with a change in behaviour and success we saw last summer in reducing parking shortfall, I think administration just wants to check in with council that this is the process they want to follow.”
A spokesperson for Banff Residents Against Paid Parking (BRAPP) said there is still a desire in the community to see a plebiscite regardless.
“We don’t want to see this issue come back time and time and time again,” said Alanna Pettigrew.
BRAPP collected about 1,400 signatures in a bid to shut down the paid parking trial in 2014.
“The public spoke then and voiced their opinion on this paramount issue,” said Pettigrew, noting a plebiscite would be a democratic way to settle this issue.
Pettigrew said parking and congestion problems will continue, noting more visitors will likely head to Banff in 2017 given free entry into the parks that year, public parking being removed from Cascade Plaza and fewer parking spaces with Bear Street woonerf and Wednesday farmer’s market.
“They are always taking away more parking and we’re concerned it’s going to continue to be a problem into the future,” she said.
The Town of Banff is looking at the feasibility of several long-term transportation solutions, including an aerial gondola transit system, and is trying to work with other municipalities to see if the return of passenger rail from Calgary on existing tracks is viable.
Councillor Corrie DiManno said she remains open to the idea of exploring user pay parking, but, given the amount of public feedback from the pay parking trial in 2014, a plebiscite would need to take place before discussions of implementation.
“However, research showed us that for the same time period in 2015, the parking shortfall decreased from 80 stalls in the first week of August 2014 to one stall in 2015,” said DiManno.
“This to me says the Town of Banff has moved the needle by applying traffic solutions. It also tells me that the community is using active modes of transportation during peak season. Combined, this may negate the need for user pay parking in the short term.”
Coun. Brian Standish said he supports a plebiscite, but not just on paid parking. He wants to have it encompass Banff’s entire transportation network, pointing to a sustainable transportation system that encourages pedestrian movement and cycling, enhanced resident and visitor experience, integrates local and regional transportation of people and goods, and is economically and environmentally sustainable.
“It’s a bigger picture than just paid parking, and plebiscite questions would have to cover the full transportation system spectrum,” he said.
Standish said he still fully supports paid parking.
“In an area like downtown Banff, with high parking demand, when we subsidize its cost and freeze its apparent price at zero, there are many more people who want it than there are spots available,” he said.
“Without paid parking to stimulate turnover, people – locals – tend to take spots and hold on to them all day. As a result, people – visitors – waste their time cruising, looking for scarce open space.
For 2015, a number of initiatives to help minimize congestion delays and open up more parking stall availability were carried out, including a promotion campaign to encourage people to ride, bike or catch the bus.
There were changes to signal timings, including increased use of the “green override” to move high volumes of north and south-bound traffic, typically in summer, on weekend afternoons from Mountain Avenue through Moose Street.
There was real time monitoring of traffic conditions in Banff, with alerts sent to front-line staff at hotels and visitor information centres so they can advise visitors on what to expect.
Ridership on Roam transit was up 29 per cent on the Sulphur Mountain route with doubled service, and the number of people jumping on the bus to and from Tunnel Mountain campground doubled with free one-way service to downtown.
Banff’s bylaw services also implemented an electronic handheld parking enforcement system and had seasonal officers shift the majority of their focus to downtown parking enforcement.
Last year, first offence time violation tickets were discounted by 90 per cent if paid within 14 days.
From July 15 to Sept. 30, the Town issued 2,391 time limit tickets and of those 130 were repeat offenders. For the same time period the year before, Vinci Parking issued 2,436 time limit violation tickets, of which 303 were repeat offenders.
Mayor Karen Sorensen said she believes there was a big change in behaviour, particularly from local residents.
“I believe we had a positive impact on residents changing their behaviour in terms of vehicle use in high season,” she said. “They’re walking, they’re biking and they’re catching the bus.”
Sorensen said the number of people from Canmore riding regional Roam transit into Banff has also increased, and she believes ridership will grow even more when the regional service is doubled during peak times, starting in late spring.
“The idea is if I get off work at 5 o’clock, then I don’t have to wait until six o’clock, I can get on a bus at 5:30 p.m. I think we’re going to see a huge increase in ridership again between Banff and Canmore,” she said.
