New measures are being proposed which will alter even more Park-Extension and access to the small businesses as well as residential units are being proposed in a white paper tabled Tuesday March 7th by the Montreal Regional Council for the Environment (CRE) which suggests 23 reforms to the City to make parking more efficient, fairer and greener. One of the key measures proposed: the pricing of all on-street parking on the island of Montreal by 2035.
“The city is growing”, said Blaise Rémillard, mobility and urban planning manager at the CRE. “We have less and less space per person. And then that [parking] space is 27% of the street space. This is enormous and it prevents us from achieving our mobility objectives.”
The CRE calculates that parking spaces take up 12 times more space than reserved lanes for buses and bike paths, and that the city spends up to $500 million a year on these spaces, including maintenance. and the ground.
We would like to gradually get this amount to be assumed by motorists, rather than by the population, said Blaise Rémillard. For Mr. Rémillard, it is a matter of fairness.
“There are 30% of households that do not have a car in Montreal. They also pay taxes. They too pay parking fees […] when they go to the grocery store and do not travel by car. » said Blaise Rémillard, mobility and urban planning manager at the CRE
According to the CRE, offering parking below cost undermines not only public finances, but also efforts to optimize off-street parking and the city experience. The report cites a Vancouver study that found that for every dollar a motorist invests in the use of their vehicle, society pays almost 10 times that amount. The metropolis should also sharply increase the price of vignettes, suggests the CRE. Currently, these stickers are free or non-existent in five out of 19 boroughs. Where they are chargeable, they cost from $11 to $270.
