New West's parking department set to make money for the 2022 year

Preliminary numbers from the City of New Westminster show the city's parking department is set to finish 2022 in the black.

Monday afternoon, city staff told mayor and council that preliminary year-end numbers show $400,000 more for the department than was expected.

City staff suggested part of the reason for the variance is due to the overall transactions at pay stations being offset by "below target parking tickets," which could be the result of either increased cooperation by drivers choosing to pay for parking, or not enough staff to hand out tickets to those who don't abide by the rules.

Part of ending 2022 in the positive came after less was spent in the department's salaries, benefits, and training category. About $800,000 was set aside for that, but only $600,000 was spent—making up half of the $400,000 number.

As for the top violations ticketed in New West, based on the latest numbers?

•Time expired on the meter/failure to pay, at 61%•Stopping or parking longer than permitted, at 15%•Stopping or parking in contravention of posted signage, at 9%•Stopping or parking within 1.5 metres of a driveway, at 7%•No permit posted, at 4%•Stopping or parking within five metres of a fire hydrant, at 4%

Once the presentation wrapped up, Coun. Daniel Fontaine wanted to know why New Westminster uses the Passport Parking App, and not other apps like Pay by Phone, the latter of which you may have seen in cities like Vancouver and Richmond. Mayor Patrick Johnstone said he recalled the Passport Parking App coming out of a request for proposals.

Pricing for parking in New Westminster is based on six guiding principles: sustainable transportation, access for people, greening and activation, and delivery and loading are ahead of short-term parking and on-street parking, respectively.

In 2022, parking represented close to 60% of the engineering services operating revenue of $8.1M, and 2% of the city's total 2022 budgeted operating revenues.

You can take a look at the full presentation here—it starts on page 47 of 75.