I drive an electric Nissan Leaf and use the Victoria parkades.
For the most part, the city鈥檚 heart is in the right place. When you use the parkade you can plug your car in for free as long as you don鈥檛 go over three hours. This sounds OK, but if you work and you plug in at 1 p.m., you are probably going to go home at 5, and it鈥檚 easy to go over that three-hour limit. I have been ticketed a few times, so much so I would sooner pay a bit for the electricity and not have to move.
I have also had issues with gas-powered cars in the electric spots. There are smartphone applications that show us when somebody is using an electric spot.
When a gas-powered car is there, it shows the spot as being free until you get there and see it鈥檚 occupied.
One morning at Fisgard, there was a gas-powered car in one of the spots when I arrived in the morning, a different car when I came back at noon and another one when I left at the end of the day.
The one at the end of the day was a kicker, though. I had a ticket for being over by 27 minutes and the gas-powered car didn鈥檛. So I see different gas cars in electric spots during the day with no tickets and I am ticketed when I am over for 27 minutes.
Ken Teghtmeyer
Sidney
