For the first time ever, Victoria drivers had to pay for Sunday street parking.
“Oh ya I forgot about that!” said local Rick Spencer.
“I did not know about that, and I did not pay!” said Victoria resident Brenda Corbett.
Downtown drivers will have to now pay for street parking seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
On Sundays, drivers will be able to park for up to four hours for a reduced rate of $2 an hour.
City council made the unanimous choice to start charging for Sunday parking, with the intention of using the new revenue to fund B.C. Transit passes for Victoria youth in the fall.
An estimated $600,000, is expected to help out the program.
“I think the bus can be pretty expensive, so if you can get youth around the city for free, that’s a good thing,” said Audrey Graham.But others aren’t so on board.
“People won’t want to come downtown now because they can’t park because they want to save their dimes and nickels,” said Spencer.
“For local businesses, it’s getting harder and harder to attract people into physical locations and I think anytime you put in any roadblock in place for those people, you just make it more difficult,” Langford local Aaron Parkinson.
“So I’m totally against paying for parking at any time.”
But there are still some ways to park for free! In the five city-owned parkades in downtown Victoria, all are free every Sunday.
The first hour is always free in the parkades no matter the day. On-street parking will still be free from 6 p.m. to 9 a.m. and all day on holidays.
The city didn’t go tough on ticketing for the first day of the change. Instead, the parking police issued warning citations to remind people of the new parking fees, and help with the transition.
Next Sunday though, may be a different story.
CHEK News
