The three-hour signs up are up, the pay stations in place and the city vehicle is outfitted with the new license plate recognition technology.
Come Monday morning parking control officers will begin ticketing vehicles that show up in the new system as taking up free space more than three hours later or staying longer than paid for in the hourly lots.
Two sensors are secured to the top of the vehicle that point in either direction, angling down at plates and blink red as they zero in on postal code. Tracy Koop slowed the vehicle next to cars parked near the Keg to show how their image is logged to a touch-screen computer.
Some days she'll be the one officer who starts scanning downtown vehicles from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. That person will then be joined by a second officer who can help with tickets using the equipment, which will run Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. . The city will still have roving officers walking the streets to deal with shorter-term parking areas, fire hydrants and pedestrian spots.
The new parking system is not quite complete. The city has yet to roll out its residential permitting system, though it has put downtown homeowners and renters on notice. And, officers still don't have the new handheld devices that offer additional electronic tracking features that sync in with the other systems and allow for manual entry.
Since the city started its downtown parking revamp efforts, residents have responded. Current numbers show 120 more monthly parking rentals than the city had in September, with room for 340 monthly spots.
The pay stations are seeing between 200 and 250 transactions each day, the vast majority - 80 per cent - asking for the $4 all-day permits over the $0.75 hourly rate.
It's added to city coffers, as predicted. October's $8,400 from pay stations saw a 31 per cent increase in revenue compared to the same month last year. The six stations take coin or credit card. Most still use coin, but the city expects the 36 per cent using credit cards to climb.
Those numbers show that people are starting to understand the new rules council set out, said the city's bylaws services manager.
"If you're an all day parker downtown, move to off-street parking after your time is up," said Fred Crittenden.
In the short term that uptick in parking collections has supported the prediction that staff came to council that the $172,500 contract with VenTek International for the equipment and technology will lead to long-term increase in annual revenue.
"Whether or not that sustainable in the long term that will depend on how the community reacts to the rules. In my experience in enforcing bylaws, most of the people are very compliant. They want to live by the rules, they don't want a fine," Crittenden said.
"As long as we have consistent enforcement and keep the message out there that these are the rules, we'll see a great level of compliance."
Koop said the technology has been the biggest shift in how she's done her job in the last 23 years.
"It really should clear up the problem," she said, pointing the chalking, which wasn't as effective in bad weather and people could rub it off or simply move locations. "This should be better."
Koop used the touch-screen device to show how officers can manually punch in location details. She also has the option to use an auto selection tool, which uses GPS to locate what permits or parking laws apply.
"When you come back after the first round it will make a noise - kind of like an alarm almost," she said, and the car needs to be running for the system to keep working.
For those objecting to the changes, Coun. Jillian Merrick asked on social media: "can you name a city of over 50,000 people in B.C. that provides unlimited free on-street parking in the downtown?"
Some expressed frustration that a quick stop early in the day would mean they could be ticketed later in the day even though they didn't use up the three hours parking. Paying in the three-hour spots isn't an option, to keep those spaces open for downtown business.
"To avoid this situation, you may want to park in a paid hourly lot later in the day. If you feel you have been unfairly ticketed, you have the right to dispute the ticket," Merrick wrote in the ensuing discussion.
She also pointed to Kelowna, Victoria, and Vancouver, which have no free parking. Kamloops has no free parking during the week, while Chilliwack and Abbostford both have the first two to three hours free on-street and Nanaimo, which has two hours free and no evening or weekend exceptions.
Crittenden said if there are any errors, one of the benefits of the new system is that those in the office can see the recent payment and vehicles scanned "right down to the second," so staff can make quick corrections, like reimbursing or offering free parking for the next day.
"It's easy for us to fix, it's just a matter of how we fix it and when we're notified."
