REGINA — Businesses in downtown Regina have mixed feelings on the proposed parking voucher option to pay for meters.
During Wednesday’s Regina executive committee meeting, Mayor Chad Bachynski proposed an amendment to the city’s traffic by-law for selling a bundle of five vouchers at City Hall for $13.75, which can be used at any pre-parking spot. The vouchers would be usable for a maximum of two hours at any stall.
The move comes after the city received backlash for removing coin-payment options for meters effective March 1.
Destiny Slobodian, owner of The Bone & Broth Kitchen, approved the city’s idea.
“I think that it's a good idea, given that there are people who don't want to have an app on their phone. They want to use their phone to pay for the parking meters.”
Slobodian said senior citizens would likely have significant difficulty adapting to new technology if parking meters could only be paid through an app.
“So I think having an alternative method of paying for your parking is a great idea.”
While she supports an alternative method, Slobodian worries new payment methods will lead to a dip in customers coming downtown.
“We all know it's hard to teach new habits, and it's one of those situations where our downtown is already struggling to have people come down.”
Chad Boudreau, co-owner of Comic Readers, also had concerns about people not wanting to come downtown after being disheartened by comments he read on Facebook.
“I cannot believe people's vitriol toward downtown. It makes me sad.”
Boudreau is one of many business owners along 11th Avenue affected by the road’s closure between April and November as part of the revitalization project.
With the road set to close again this spring, he said the policy changes come at a bad time.
“The idea that you're unrolling a new parking policy with the idea of efficiency, and you don't need a coin, and then, you can't come downtown cause it's under construction again. It's terrible timing.”
Several councillors suggested the Regina Downtown Business Improvement District could help distribute the vouchers, with businesses offering them to customers as a way to encourage more people to shop downtown.
Slobodian didn’t agree with the idea if it meant businesses would incur more costs.
“I think that it's a nice sentiment, but at the end of the day, now I'm paying for the parking.”
Boudreau also agreed, stating he wouldn’t buy vouchers for increased costs.
The plan to implement parking vouchers requires council’s final approval next week.
