Changes coming to Edmonton LRT park and ride this fall

For commuters who use LRT park and rides in Edmontonthere are some proposedchanges expected to come into effectSept. 1.

The city's transportation committee voted in favour of the changesWednesday, and the recommendations will go before city council for final approval.

Some park-and-ride stalls that are now offered for free will be converted to paid stalls.The price of those paid stalls will be increased.

Some free stalls will have two- or four-hour time limits.

The city currently charges $42 a month to reserve a park-and-ride stall.

The new changes are meant to deal with overcrowding at park-and-ride lots.

Edmonton's eight lots often fill up as early as 7 a.m. on weekdays, leaving many riders without a place to leave their vehicles.

The details of how many stalls will be converted, how much prices will go upand the number of stalls with time limitswill be sorted out by city staff.

A report containing those details will come back to the transportation committee in June.

Councillors will decide

All of this still needs approval from councilas a whole;however given approval from the committee, itis expected to be rubber-stamped.

Councillors also discussed ways to increase the overall number of park-and-ride stalls.

City staff have been directed to identifychurches,mallsand recreation centres with available parking that are close to existing park-and-ride lots.

The idea is the city could enter into an agreement with these facilities. There would be a charge to use their parking during weekdays, and the proceeds would be shared.

A report on thatproposal will come back to the committee sometime duringthe summer.

Coun. Scott McKeensaid heisn't sure if there should be any free parking at park-and-ride lots.

"I think then you could have a rush for the free spots again and it might create more problems than it's worth," he said.

Having commuters pay to use allstalls at park-and-ride lots would eliminate theneed to increaserates, McKeenadded.