If there鈥檚 a ritual of urban life more exasperating than getting a parking ticket, the fates have yet to reveal it. Everything about the experience is maddening. There鈥檚 the furtive, sneaky aspect of it 鈥� the sense that someone deliberately lay in wait and pounced the moment our back was turned. There鈥檚 the heaping of insult onto injury 鈥� isn鈥檛 parking downtown torment enough without this burden added to the ordeal?
There are the noxious efforts at extortion 鈥� pay right away or we鈥檒l double the fine. And most infuriating, there is the sure and certain knowledge that someone, somewhere, is making money off our misfortune.
Technically, we understand the logic. If motorists were allowed to park for as long as they pleased on downtown streets, none of us would ever find a spot.
Though we ourselves may be kind and thoughtful, there are greedy hogs among us. Something must be done.
But still, the experience rankles. Surely there is a better way.
And that, apparently, is the conclusion Nanaimo council has arrived at. For years, the city鈥檚 parking enforcement had been handled by a private firm, as it is in Victoria and many urban centres.
But there were complaints that overzealous ticketing was driving people out of the urban core. Councillors decided a more 鈥渁mbassadorial鈥� approach was needed.
So the city ended its relationship with the private company, hired its own employees and gave them a course in basic civility. Staff are instructed to go easy on small technical infractions, such as cars parked a few centimetres over a yellow line.
They鈥檙e also allowed to issue warnings rather than fines, if the driver returns while the ticket is being written. And a short 鈥済race鈥� period has been adopted.
Thus far at least, the policy appears to have worked. Local businesses appreciate the more generous approach. Presumably, their customers do as well.
So why doesn鈥檛 Victoria follow suit? The idea was considered a few years back, but at the time, nothing came of it. The reason is simple. Parking fines are a significant source of revenue to the city.
Indeed, parking operations 鈥� meaning both parkades and on-street metering 鈥� are one of the few municipal services that make money in Victoria.
Water and sewer utilities, the conference centre, parks, the library, culture and recreation programs, all either break even or lose money outright. But parking nets a profit of $8 million, and fines are a major part of that.
A case can be made for this strategy. As a major tourist hub, Victoria has more than its share of visitors. Some way must be found of catering to these out-of-town guests who pay no property taxes.
Yet somewhere along this path, parking ceases to be a civic amenity, and becomes a money pit, plain and simple. And enforcement officers act accordingly.
They ticket every offence, grant no leeway, show no sympathy. That certainly doesn鈥檛 improve the downtown environment, for visitors or residents.
It鈥檚 true that Nanaimo鈥檚 scheme cost the city a few bucks 鈥� about $135,000 in lost fines. Yet that amounts to a dip in overall revenues of less than a tenth of one per cent.
This certainly seems a price worth paying to bring more visitors 鈥� and business 鈥� into the city core.
And perhaps that realization is finally setting in. Victoria city council recently agreed to re-examine the issue.
A review of parking policy has been commissioned, with a report due early in the new year.
Here is an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. Relax the enforcement regime a little and the downtown area becomes more welcoming.
Treat motorists more humanely and our collective blood pressure might be reduced a notch or two. That sounds like just the ticket.
