Peak pricing could be coming to Fredericton after council approves parking master plan

The City of Fredericton has approved a new parking master plan that will deal withcongestion andaccommodate new growth in the downtown.

"We're at a point where we really need to start looking at solutions, knowing that we have a successful and growing downtown," said Meredith Gilbert, manager of transit and parking services for the city.

"We really need to make sure we are poised to receive peoplelooking to set up shop in the downtown."

Theparking master plan was approved at Monday night's city council meeting. Itsets out short and long-term goals for the city to follow overthe next 10years.

Rate increasecould be in the works

Although there won't be anyimmediateincreases to parking rates, Gilbert said the new plan doesrecommendthe city adjust its rates duringpeak hours.

The plan would see the cost ofon-street parking riseat different times of the day,with the goal being to drive more people into parking garages

"This is where you price based on where you want to encourage people to park. So someone who is stayingall day for work downtown for example, we would want them to park more at the periphery in the parking garages," said Gilbert.

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"So if you price the parking accordingly, they're going to be more likely to go there because it's more affordable for a longer stay."

The cost of parking couldalso change depending on the time of year or events occurring in the downtown.

Any rate changes would need to be approved separately by council, whichCoun. Kevin Darrah, who is also chair of the city's transportation committee,said isnecessary.

"Our parking rates are old," he said. "We need to catch up with other cities in the province."

More parking spaces added

Gilbert said the city will also add more spaces to the current 1,400 parking spaces in the downtown.The plan includes a new parking garage, adding about 500 spaces.

The city also plans to update its pay booths that would registera person's licence plate instead of their parking spot number.

"Newer equipment has better data collection capability than what we have today. Our meters today for example, don't collect data at all," said Gilbert.

"Newer meters will collect data for us so we'll have a better picture of how long people stay and what the turnover rates are, so we can better plan for use of parking in the downtown."

Gilbert said she doesn't know how much the new equipment will cost.

The next step is for city staff to develop a road map that would implement these recommendations over the next 10 years.