Free parking is big news
The free parking being offered all over town (not just downtown, as I posted Thursday) for the last six weeks of the year is still big news on Friday. Seems if you own a couple tons of 20th‑century smog‑belching technology, you’re always keen to leave it in a public place for free. Who knew?
Update: Further clarifications say this free parking will be evenings and weekends.
Ephraim 09:51 on 2020-10-23 Permalink
Oh, so only ICE cars can park for free? Quebec is the largest region with the highest percentage of electric and/or PHEV vehicles in Canada. You know… all those green licence plates that you see… I think it’s more about free parking. The problem with this plan is that they aren’t time limiting the spaces… I would think that would mean that some of them would be occupied all day long, which doesn’t help the merchants at all. But then, how would they enforce it, they don’t really have a system in place for that.
Faiz imam 11:12 on 2020-10-23 Permalink
Not sure what the end result of this will be. As Ephraim said, Free parking means someone can hog a spot for the entire day. But was supply limited these days anyways?
Also, during the weekends I’m really not sure what anyone could “Hog” a spot downtown for. There is not much to do except shop at goods retailers. And these days its not very fun. I don’t see anyone spending 5 hours at Eaton Center on purpose.
Ian 11:14 on 2020-10-23 Permalink
FWIW even my Babykilling Smokemachine™ only has to pay the same for sticker parking under the new fee rates as an electric vehicle because it’s only got 1.6 litres engine capacity. It crossed my mind that if they offer free parking in my neighbourhood I would just park my car there all the time so I don’t have to move it for street cleaning.
Tim S, 11:23 on 2020-10-23 Permalink
Faiz: who could hog a downtown spot? Employees. When I had a retail job in an area with limited but free parking, it was the workers who always arrived first – obviously – and snapped up the best spots. I mentioned to my boss one day that maybe we could leave those for customers and got a rant about how much he already does for the ingrate clients.
Joey 12:30 on 2020-10-23 Permalink
@Ephraim huh? Can’t all cars park for free? Or is the issue that you can’t park “for free” in a charging station because you still have to pay for the electricity to charge your car (even if you don’t have to pay the meter for the spot)?
steph 13:25 on 2020-10-23 Permalink
Can’t the current system of parking meters allow for timed free parking. just change the rate per hour to 0$. Hogging a spot for entire days would still require the hogger to renew the ticket every few hours (since there’s a limit to how many hours you can reserve per ticket)
Phil M 13:26 on 2020-10-23 Permalink
There are many areas that impose parking time limits, even on free parking spaces. So just because it’s free, doesn’t mean you can’t get a ticket.
Also, can we stop attacking car owners, please?
Ephraim 14:11 on 2020-10-23 Permalink
@Joey – It’s referring to Kate’s comment… not all cars are ICE cars.
@Faiz – Well, workers need to be there all day long and can use a spot, for example. And not just retail businesses, there are offices that function all the time, support calls, for example.
Joey 15:19 on 2020-10-23 Permalink
@Ephraim fair enough
Kate 16:11 on 2020-10-23 Permalink
Phil M: don’t be touchy. It’s just sometimes, looking out my front door, I feel the sheer weight of all the vehicles parked – usually solidly – up both sides of the street, almost all the time, and how much public space is given over to these things, by common consent, and how if I go for a walk I have to think at every corner, cars, cars, cars. Get out of the way of the cars.
Ian 16:22 on 2020-10-23 Permalink
You got me, Kate! I park on the street just to spite you. We all do! Well, that and to take up space that should rightly belong to bicycles.
😉
MarcG 17:03 on 2020-10-23 Permalink
I hear you, Kate. It’s a pretty stupid bed we’ve made for ourselves.
qatzelok 10:24 on 2020-10-24 Permalink
I’m with Kate. Cars are poison.
Ian 10:46 on 2020-10-24 Permalink
What. only 3 of you? Where’s the excited “cars are evil” dogpile we’ve all come to know and expect in the comments here? What’s the point of even driving an anachronistic Deathwagon™ if only 3 people feel the need to constantly insult everyone who parks one?
Kate 11:23 on 2020-10-24 Permalink
Ian, we can recognize that cars are essential for some purposes without welcoming their ubiquity in our lives.
walkerp 11:22 on 2020-10-24 Permalink
It always cracks me up when the dominant side goes with the victimization. Oh the poor car owners. You sound like the all-white panels whining that you can’t use the n-word anymore. Maybe just suck it up and realize that whatever your justifications are, your owning a car is not good for the world.
The problem is systemic, so it’s not on you to change the world. But if you are also not willing to make the changes to your life to buck up against this destructive system, then just own it.
Ian 13:18 on 2020-10-24 Permalink
No no, cars are evil, and car owners are as bad as people that use the N-word. Let’s not sugarcoat it! This is the internet, there is no room for nuance or context! I’m surprised nobody has brought up the fact that parking spots are worth 100k/year apiece (or would be if we built office towers on parking lanes, but I digress). Plante is clearly kowtowing to dominant CAR ELITES that are KILLING OUR PLANET. I know this for a fact, I’ve read as much on this very blog!
Dhomas 15:27 on 2020-10-24 Permalink
Sounds like you’re trying to bait people into an argument with sarcastic, inflammatory rhetoric you expect “the other side” to use, even though none of “them” have used it.
I own a car. It is necessary given my current situation and I expect it is for others as well. That said, I try to avoid using it when I can and I look forward to a day when we, as a society, can reduce our reliance on fossil fuel powered vehicles.
Ian 16:00 on 2020-10-24 Permalink
Ah but they have and do, I could go dig up exact quotes if you like, I am not straw manning at all – I’ve been holding back, to tell the truth. It’s a bit rich to be told that it’s being “touchy” when the greener-than-thou folks get away with saying the most incendiary, absurd things every time the topic of cars comes up and never get called out on it. I am definitely being sarcastic, because frankly I’ve had enough. Besides didn’t you hear? It’s not enough to switch to a car that doesn’t run on gas, it’s offensive to simply park it within public view.
But yeah, whatever, you’re right. Holding up a mirror isn’t going to win hearts and minds, especially if those minds are already made up.
Ant6n 16:04 on 2020-10-24 Permalink
In this particular discussion, you’re yelling at people pre-emptively.
nau 17:45 on 2020-10-24 Permalink
Man, I hope circumstances never oblige me to buy a car if this is what owning one does to one’s state of mind.
MarcG 18:33 on 2020-10-24 Permalink
The verbal equivalent of honking?
dwgs 18:40 on 2020-10-24 Permalink
Ian is definitely stirring the pot but he’s not wrong. Just wait until Chris weighs in. *ducks and runs*
Chris 12:57 on 2020-10-25 Permalink
Wow. Spicy thread! 🙂
Is global warming a real thing? Does the manufacture and use of cars and car fuel contribute very substantially to global warming? Maybe in decades past you could say those were opinions, but by now they are fact.
It causes strong cognitive dissonance for many people. The vast vast majority of car owners are of course perfectly good people, so it’s hard to internalize that their behaviour is so detrimental to others. 1.35 million die every year just from car crashes (covid at 1.1 million now). Air pollution (not just from cars) kills around 6 million a year. Wars are fought over oil to power our cars. Countless others are injured or sickened.
Given all that, we are collectively insane to subsidize car use. Free roads, free parking, subsidies to fossil fuel companies, car company bailouts, etc., etc. At the very least car users/owners should pay for all the externalities by way of a mix of road tolls, congestion charges, paid parking, carbon taxes, etc.
This pandemic is a once in a generation opportunity that’s mostly being squandered. With so many parking lanes being empty, it’s a chance to convert them to transit lanes, bike lanes, green spaces, sidewalks, etc. Simultaneously, we should be ready with a 10x increase to public/active transport for when society reopens so that people will have better options instead of cars.