Comments on: Parking meters: It’s all supply and demand

By: NewMontrealer

NewMontrealer — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 20:06:49 +0000

Sure you pay for your car yourself, but you don't pay for the roads. And you don't even want to think about how bad traffic and finding a parking spot would be if the city tried to get people in their cars to come in the city and cut back funding for transit because they weren't charging what the market will bear for parking; there is no way they can build enough roads or enough parking to satify the demand if the price is set too low.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 15:15:26 +0000

I shouldn't have to uproot my life just so that I can get to work in the morning. I make no apologies for driving to work, I'm just fed up with the high parking prices. Seeing as how I pay for the car myself, I don't think it's fair to call me spoiled. Seeing as how you don't (or perhaps can't) drive, I really don't think you have the right to chime in about the parking prices I have to pay. I don't have any kids, do I complain about the government subsidies and tax breaks handed out to families? Half my pay check goes to taxes for services that I don't even qualify for. Just the other day I tried to book an appointment at my local CLSC only to realize that the center caters only to those over 40 years old...ridiculous. That's my tax money hard at work. It would be nice to get a break now and then is all I'm saying. And as for "doing my share for the planet" I've been a vegetarian for over 7 years which I'm sure is more than you can say for yourself. Pipe down buddy.

By: Team of Assholes, pt. 1: Benoît Labonté «

Team of Assholes, pt. 1: Benoît Labonté « — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 02:59:24 +0000

[...] free parking meters during the 2008 Christmas shopping season. Regrettably, parking meters ration a limited resource and facilitate the maximum number of shoppers in a given area. Add that to the fact that the [...]

By: Denis Canuel

Denis Canuel — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 20:24:28 +0000

Parking underground doesn't always cost more. A spot at 1000 DLG is 7$ during weekends (unlimited time!)
Plus, if you skate there, it'll be just 5$

It's a great place to park if you plan to be in downtown for the whole day.

But on the realistic side, people need spots and perhaps shuttles might be an interesting way to move cars out of downtown and in cheaper areas. You know, kinda like the airport. You pay a very high premium if you're next to the terminal and it's pretty cheap if you use park-n-fly.

By: Jean Naimard

Jean Naimard — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 18:23:17 +0000

I think parking is already way too expensive as is. I have paid my dues using the bus and metro, did the 90 minute commute going to University everyday from the West Island for 3 years, and then again for another 2 years working in the Plateau before I finally caved and got a car.

Boo hoo hoo. Cry me a river.

It’s been more than 30 years since I can legally drive a car and I have yet to cave-in and get a car. You young squirts really have it good and you don’t even realize it.

How about moving to Rosemont? You could bike to work and do your share for the planet.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 13:54:11 +0000

Although I appreciate your point of view, I think parking is already way too expensive as is. I have paid my dues using the bus and metro, did the 90 minute commute going to University everyday from the West Island for 3 years, and then again for another 2 years working in the Plateau before I finally caved and got a car. Maybe I'll stop complaining when the city makes it easier for commuters to get into town from the West Island, but paying $3.00/hour on top of the terrible road conditions and ridiculous gas prices seems unreasonable. Not to mention the inept street cleaning crews in the winter who ripped half of my car off when I was parked downtown...I'm so fed up with this city sometimes.

By: James Lawlor

James Lawlor — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 03:48:07 +0000

At the risk of sounding a bit redundant with the very first post I have a blog postabout "The High Cost of Free Parking". An amazing amount of traffic is simply cars driving arround looking for parking. Sometimes as much as 90%. What Shoup recommends that the city is not doing is adjusting the rate dynamically depending on the demand so that drivers can be assured that at least one spot is always available per block.

By: Patrick Lagacé

Patrick Lagacé — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 03:20:19 +0000

Actually, we have slaves, provided by the employer. Much cheaper.

By: Fagstein

Fagstein — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 03:19:37 +0000

is an HTML tag designed specifically for that.

By: Jean Naimard

Jean Naimard — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 01:51:43 +0000

Seems that they’re having a parking meter revolt in Chicago:

http://theexpiredmeter.com/?p=2377

http://theexpiredmeter.com/

And I’ll go to bed less ignorant tonight: there are parking-tickets geeks!!!!

(Fagstein: how do you neatly quote text in your posts???)

By: Fagstein

Fagstein — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 01:39:20 +0000

Second of all, I insisted on CONFORTABLE alternative of transport. You can’t ask people to go from the confort of their own car, to being packed like cattle inside a car in the morning, just cause “it’s the right thing to do”.

No, you make it cheaper, faster and more convenient to use public transit than cars. I'm not going to force anyone to use public transit, but I'm not going to bend over backwards making it easy for them to clog downtown with traffic either.

By: SMS

SMS — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 01:08:48 +0000

Park and ride! Stationnement incitatif!

By: Edna

Edna — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 23:47:04 +0000

My 13-year-old son has his ID checked regularly on the bus and metro.

By: Philipppe-A.

Philipppe-A. — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 22:47:12 +0000

I don' think you can consider privately owned parking as a competition to Stationnement de Montréal as they offer very different things. And they are not nearly as ubiquitous as street space. There are not plenty of privately owned parking spaces on St-Catherine, for instance. Second of all, I insisted on CONFORTABLE alternative of transport. You can't ask people to go from the confort of their own car, to being packed like cattle inside a car in the morning, just cause "it's the right thing to do". You don't have to actually miss a subway car to have a hellish experience, just riding an overpacked one (especiallyl at 8 am) makes you wanna shove Kyoto really far up!

By: Jean Naimard

Jean Naimard — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 21:17:49 +0000

> I chose to have a car. I’m not gonna make apologies or explain it. I need it, period.

Then pay up and shut-up while you responsibly face the consequences of your personal choice, including social disapproval and ostracism.

By: Jean Naimard

Jean Naimard — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 21:15:45 +0000

> Agreed, though the fact that you can’t refill a meter early (or park on someone’s surplus time) is a shame.

A friend of mine once left 10 minutes after feeding such a meter for 2 hours. He then gave the paper receipt to the guy waiting for his spot… :) :) :) :)

By: Fagstein

Fagstein — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 21:11:00 +0000

I'm not an expert on traffic patterns and parking in Montreal, so I don't know how much parking meters are used between 6pm and 9pm Mondays to Wednesdays. If they are mostly empty, as you say (especially outside downtown), then the rates should be lowered (or eliminated) until demand rises to meet supply.

My point is that those who think downtown parking meters are too expensive are missing the point.

Besides, we all know the chroniqueurs-vedettes at La Presse have personal SUV limos to drive them around everywhere.

By: Fagstein

Fagstein — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 21:03:38 +0000

Keep in mind part of the purpose of these meters is to keep people moving and discourage the all-day use of a parking space.

By: Patrick Lagacé

Patrick Lagacé — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 20:56:21 +0000

Fagstein, come on, you're wrong on this one. Supply and demand ? Where's the demand when, on a Monday night, I stop by my favorite restaurant, on Saint-Laurent, near Laurier (now on Amherst), park my car and I am almost alone on my side of the street. It's 7:30. No cars. But parking is metered till 9. On a Monday ! Okay, so I pay up. Put some money in the meter till 8:30. But at Piatto, I feel so much at home, I take a coffee, chat with Dominic and Vince... And get out at 8:45. What's on my windshield ? You guessed it ! A ticket. Thank you for living in Montréal. Look, I can live with paying 2 bucks per hour on Mont-Royal to park the car. I think it's only targeting people who live, choose to live in MTL, but I can live with it. No one from Vimont or Bromont leaves their town to come and eat in Mont-Royal on a Monday night. So the city chooses to target people who live in Montreal. Fine. My problem is, justement, having such hours for meters. Till 9, on a Monday ?! Come on. Then, sorry, it's not about the 2 bucks per hour. It's about the 42$ tickets you can slap on many, many more Montrealer,s windshields'. Take the bus ? Oh well. I have a car. I need it for work. Leaving from La Presse to aforementioned restaurant is a straight line. A 10-minute thing. If I have to drop the car home, walk or take the bus_metro, we're not talking about minutes. We're talking an hour. I just won't go. I'll stay home, like a good banlieusard, and eat my supper watching Virginie. I chose to have a car. I'm not gonna make apologies or explain it. I need it, period. I don't have a 9 to 5 job, I have a 3 year-old kid (here I go justifying myself) : I just need the wheels. But the wild meter regulations is not pissing off the driver in me, it's pissing off the Montrealer in me. Gettinfg a ticket at 8:45 on an empty street on a Monday after I patronize a local business is not pushing me an inch toward my bike or the metro. It's pushing me to dream about a house with a driveway in Longueuil. I'm looking at the numbers : Montreal is losing people to the suburbs. Yes, living in Montreal is expensive. It explains some of the flocking to 450-land. But living in Montréal is, in itself, difficult : noise, overcrowdedness, trafic, etc. Living in MTL is an act of faith. I just wish the City, and The Little City that is my borough, would stop adding to the grief. They're not.

By: Beeg

Beeg — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 20:51:06 +0000

Agreed, though the fact that you can't refill a meter early (or park on someone's surplus time) is a shame. It's also a unfortunate that you can't fill your meter from any machine. Suppose you park near McGill College but wind up shopping near Guy and you're low on time, you have to walk back to probably Peel before you'll find a meter that accepts your letter. It's the sort of real-world problem that could really only have been addressed before implementation (it's not a software issue; the machines only have four letter buttons). Similar to the ridiculous slowness of the Opus card readers and the poorly designed Opus refill machine UI. (Also, I wonder if a bus driver has ever - ever! - checked the reduced fare ID card of student passengers. Has anyone seen this? I more or less like the new system but am also willing to admit that there's not much that can be quicker than flashing a bus pass.) Where oh where is the Stationnement Montreal iPhone meter-filling app, LOL?