A Victoria city councillor has put forward a new motion aimed at encouraging more local residents, living outside the core, to visit downtown businesses through the deployment of a parking credit.
The motion, put forward by Stephen Andrew, recommends that the city looks at providing a one-time $5 parking credit to users of the downtown parking mobile app.
The idea for the motion stems from businesses in Victoria experiencing a decline in traffic due, in part, to “the perception that [the] city has a lack of parking – especially in the downtown core.”
According to Andrew’s motion, the city’s statistics show that parking has declined across the board when compared to pre-COVID levels and local businesses have felt an impact.
Andrew notes that several people have requested the city return to free street parking on Sunday, however, the Downtown Victoria Business Association (DVBA) opposes this idea due to it restricting turnover.
“To enhance the use of the city’s parking app, to change the perception of parking availability in the core and to incentivize more people from outside the core to visit those businesses where parking is seen as a challenge to traffic, a program to support our businesses is recommended,” reads Councillor Andrew’s motion.
The motion suggests that any current or new user of the city’s parking app would receive the $5 credit if they used the app during the month of May. The credit would allow for a few hours of parking without paying and Andrew hopes it would be incentive enough to help drive more local business.
Additionally, the motion says the city would work alongside the DVBA in order to promote the incentive program together.
The parking motion will be considered by City Council during a Committee of the Whole Meeting on April 22.
Graham Cox
