Free parking meters: between benefits and irritants

Time to install the new terminal system and facilitate the transition of citizens to the Copilote+ application, the City of Quebec has opted for a free period from April 8 to 28.

And, from the first days, the parking spaces were well occupied.

So much so that delivery trucks went around in circles, that the boxes on the Grande Allée were mobilized from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and that traffic on certain arteries went up a notch, according to testimonies obtained by The sun.

For Tony Tannous, co-owner of La Galette libanaise, we must learn lessons from this exercise which happened by chance.

The one who operates four restaurants believes that free service during off-peak periods – from November to April – could give a boost to traders on central streets.

“I am not saying to make it free 24 hours a day. But, I think that from Monday to Thursday from 6 p.m. rather than 9 p.m., that would create a big attraction in winter when we are in the dead period,” says he.

Whether on weekday evenings or Sundays, Mr. Tannous observed an “improvement” in sales at his counters, while the main streets were more lively.

“There is plenty of parking and it is free. It creates the traffic that comes with it,” says the restaurateur, who would like to repeat the experience.

Payable from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

On the Maguire Avenue side, Sarah Julie J. Langlois, co-owner of Épicerie Roset, would have liked to keep the status quo, while parking meters on the commercial artery were only chargeable until 6 p.m.

From now on, they will be from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m.

In fact, the municipal administration took the opportunity of implementing the new terminal system to standardize time slots in the four corners of the city, with a few exceptions.

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According to Ms. Langlois, the choice to harmonize paid hours ignores the specific realities of each artery.

“The context is different in Maguire, in Myrand and in Old Quebec. There are fewer businesses and less density here,” she says.

Having free periods on weekday evenings made it possible to balance traffic, she points out.

“For those who didn’t want to pay, there was always Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. This ensured a balance in the influx of customers.”

— Sarah Julie J. Langlois, co-owner of Épicerie Roset

Especially since certain consumers “are closer to their money and have less money to spend” in the current economic context, specifies the trader, who also sits on the board of directors of SDC Maguire.

Those who do not doubt the need to have parking meters to ensure customer turnover, however, take a dim view of the extension of paid hours.

Arrival of Copilot+

While parking on the side of the street will become chargeable again from Monday, the end of the free period also marks the end of “small irritants” experienced by certain merchants.

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“It’s certain that when it’s free, people deprive themselves less. They set up there and use it to its full capacity. It created a few little irritants,” admits François Blay Martel, general director of the SDC Quartier Saint-Jean-Baptiste.

Nonetheless, this increased occupation of the huts was overall positive. “That means that these are people who are still in the streets of the neighborhood,” he adds.

Ultimately, the general director sees in the new terminal system a way of ensuring better accessibility of the sector, one of the major concerns of Faubourg merchants.

“When we talk about making central neighborhoods more accessible, making parking time management more flexible and more accessible, that’s a good way to do it.”

— François Blay Martel, general director of the SDC Quartier Saint-Jean-Baptiste

As the Copilote+ app will use vehicle registration plates rather than parking spaces for identification, road users will be able to bank unused time from their account.

“I can very well imagine someone who went for Cartier. He realizes that he has twenty minutes left in the paid parking lot. He does break and is coming to rue Saint-Jean,” says Mr. Blay Martel.

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