Editor:
I live in Banff and pay $48 a month for parking while visitors and most others pay nothing.
When I visit Calgary I pay anywhere from $2 to park at Mountain Equipment Co-op to $25 to park near the Stampede grounds. These parking fees have never stopped me from visiting Calgary, nor have they made me consider visiting alternate towns, yet local businesses would have us believe that visitors will skip Banff if they have to pay for parking.
If anyone understands the laws of supply and demand you’d think it would be those running a business. When supply is low, cost goes up. When demand is high, cost goes up.
This is exactly the situation in Banff when it comes to parking. If we want to meet demand for parking then costs need to go up so that we can increase supply with a future parkade, estimated to cost near $20 million.
Revenue generated by paid parking can be used to help pay for future parking solutions without putting excessive burden on local taxpayers, and that is what citizens should be demanding. There is no such thing as free parking.
Christopher Lamothe,
Banff
