Grace Period Extended For Parking Meters

Written by Peter McIntyre 107.5 KISSFM Monday, 12 January 2015 19:00
Drivers will get a few extra minutes before they get a parking ticket in Vernon. City council has approved reprogramming it's more than 900 parking meters to give a 5 minute grace period when time expires, up from the current 2 minutes. It will cost $3,200, and take staff 70 hours to reprogram the meters. Once in effect, it will actually provide a six-minute grace period that includes the time it takes a bylaw officer to write a ticket. If the vehicle owner returns before the ticket is completed, the officer has the ability to cancel the ticket. Councillor Brian Quiring says he would have preferred bylaw officers waiting by expired meters before writing a ticket. "I really don't understand why there cant be a three minute grace period when you walk up to a expired meter before you actually stick a ticket on the window. I don't think that's unreasonable, but I'm the only one (on council) who seems to feel that way," Quiring tells Kiss FM. Councillor Scott Anderson voted for the new policy, but still has concerns. "It's approved now, and I have to stand with council, but I don't think it achieves what the intent was, which was to give people some leeway if they come out and they are looking for change," says Anderson, who says the extra few minutes on the meters will "at least give people the perception we are not out to get them." Anderson would also like to see the city get rid of the $25 fee to appeal a parking ticket. "Given that the ticket is no more than $25 usually, what you are asking for is 100 percent, so you have to double-down on it, and I think that takes away in people's mind the idea that they have some appeal, so it creates one of those friction points," Anderson told the media. Mayor Akbal Mund says he's done two walks around town with bylaw officers. "Some the facts are that fourty percent of people don't plug the meter and take a chance just going in and out, but if you get a ticket, you can't blame others for breaking the law," says Mund. Mund says free parking won't work downtown, but the five minute grace period will help please the public. "For 32-hundred dollars, this is a viable way. The perception of (the extra grace period) will please everybody, and I think it will work," says Mund.
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Don Quixote Note:
If you plug in a quarter the machine will give you 15 minutes plus a 5 minute grace period or a total of 20 minutes before the machine will blink as overdue. Theoretically you could plug in quarters every 20 minutes and get 60 minutes of parking for 75 cents.  A  reduction from plugging in a loonie where you would get 65 minutes.