City of Saskatoon faces heat over frozen parking stations

The City of Saskatoon is facing some heat over the way its new high-tech parking stations perform in the cold and snow of winter.

Over the weekend, as temperatures plunged, the stations were sluggish. The screens were slow to respond, as werethe protective coin slots.

We are not minimizing the issue.- Andrew Hildebrandt

"We are not minimizing the issue, particularly in cold weather, we don't want our customers standing outside longer than they have to, but it's also not a widespread problem or indication of any massive failure that we should be worried about," said Andrew Hildebrandt, director of community standards.

In the end, Hildebrandt said, there were just three reports of malfunctioning stations

"That doesn't for a second mean that we didn't have more people experiencing the problem, particularly at those machines where that occurred, so we are aware of that."

Solar power not a concern

At the same time, Hildebrandt denies any problem with the reliance on solar power, despite local media reports. He saidthe panels are cleared of snow by workers who are already out collecting money. Plus, if a battery fails, crews are alerted to go out and fix the station.