West End Parking Fees May Go Up 700%

The City of Vancouver has launched an online questionnaire and is only giving West End residents about one month to participate in an online survey.  Two open houses are planned for

July 19 2016, 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.  West End Community Centre, 870 Denman St, and

July 23 2016, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.  Nelson Park, 1030 Bute St.

The West End is bounded on the north and east by the two downtown “ceremonial” streets: Burrard Street and West Georgia Street. These streets carry high vehicle volumes and are part of the City’s truck route network. Robson, Denman and Davie Streets function as key walking, transit and vehicle circulation streets within the West End. Declining vehicle volumes on these streets provide an opportunity for allowing full-time on-street parking and other uses of the curb lanes.

In the West End, demand for on-street visitor/short-term and residential permit parking is very high. Access to short-term parking is particularly challenging, not only for visitors but also for tradespeople, delivery trucks, and caregivers.

Sample monitoring of these spaces has shown occupancy rates averaging approximately 95%.

Improving access to visitor parking was identified as a priority by the community early in the planning process. Residential permit parking areas have unique challenges in managing demands. The West End is the largest residential permit parking zone in the city, and currently, nearly twice as many residential parking permits are requested and sold compared to the total number of on-street parking spaces available. This indicates that many residents buy permits regardless of parking already available to them off-street

The current cost of a residential parking permit is less than $6.50 per month, whereas off-street parking ranges anywhere from $25-$100 per month. Sampling of several buildings in the West End has shown that off-street parking is generally underutilized, particularly in high- rise apartments with multi-level underground parkades. Additionally, many of the buildings in the West End were constructed at a time that resulted in an excess of off-street parking spaces as compared to the requirements of today’s by-laws and policies.

What do you think?  Complete the questionnaire by clicking the link. Questionnaire http://vancouver.ca/streets-transportation/west-end-parking-strategy.aspx

Download the entire PDF of the West End Community Plan West End Community Plan http://vancouver.ca/files/cov/west-end-community-plan.pdf