Drivers will still find free weekend parking in downtown Nanaimo.
City council agreed to continue a free evening and weekend parking promotion that a local merchant organization calls a massive success.
The year-long pilot program started in December 2014. While drivers still had two-hour time limits on street stalls in the Old City Quarter and downtown, they no longer had to plug meters with coins on Saturday. The move was aimed at helping to grow parking demand and attract people and business to the city's core.
It added to parking already free on Sunday, evenings and statutory holidays. The pilot program also included parking at no-cost at the Bastion Street Parkade on evenings and weekends.
At an open meeting Monday, John Cooper, president of the Downtown Nanaimo Business Improvement Association, called the initiative a massive success and said the association could not be happier with the results. A membership survey of about 50 businesses showed half the respondents reported free parking on evenings and weekends has a positive impact on their business and 55 per cent received unsolicited positive public feedback on the free parking.
Cooper told the News Bulletin the association loves that the city will continue the free evening and weekend campaign.
“It’s a great thing to promote to have people be able to go downtown and park free on evenings and weekends,” he said “We’d like it to be a permanent fix, not just a pilot project until the point when supply becomes a problem just like it is Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 p.m."
Rod Davidson, the city's acting manager of bylaw, regulation and security, believes there is an increasing number of vehicles downtown. He also noted in a report that on-street revenue has remained relatively consistent at $20,000 to $22,000 a month.
The program will continue as a promotion and the city plans to do car counts to get statistics about occupancy rates for the Bastion Street Parkade and metered street stalls. The business improvement association plans to key up awareness of the free stalls this year, with stickers on meters to remind people it's free on evenings and weekend, and possibly additional signage in the parkade.