RE: FREE Parking for Motorcycles and Scooters in Halifax
I don’t mind that Motorcycles and scooters are to have access to free parking spots for up to 90 minutes in Halifax but it’s hard to see these spots which can accommodate up to 3 motorcycles open when it seems that ½ the metered parking downtown has been taken away for outdoor patios! (and yes…these vehicles are more environmentally friendly considering the amount of fuel they use but could we also have the city/province legislate that these motorcycles have mufflers? I can get a ticket for having a hole in my car’s muffler but motorcycles contribute to noise pollution every day…but I digress…this is about parking after all)
Recently I parked in the MetroPark off Granville to attend the Grand Opening of the HubHalifax on Barrington. It was a Friday after-noon…a nice day outside. I spent 5-6 hours downtown….big mistake…it cost $16 to get out of the parkade. I could have parked on the waterfront all day for less than that! Maybe I would have parked outside the downtown core and taken the bus to downtown but I was running late and it’s hard to find a place on a convenient bus route that isn’t limited to 2 hour parking.(I can’t even visit family in the South End without having trouble finding a spot that isn’t limited to 1-2 hours.) Even FRED, the free bus shuttle downtown doesn’t start until July 4th and isn’t frequent enough to make it worthwhile. The city wants to encourage drivers to stay OUT of the downtown core…make it easier for us to do so. We CAN park outside the downtown core (for free), but offer day passes for unlimited travel on metro transit and put a bus route from these parking areas that is more direct to the downtown core. You can get passes for the day (or for so many trips) in New York and London…make it easier and thus more environmentally friendly to do so here in Halifax. We are the little city that wants to be big…we need to start somewhere!!
It can be such a pain to park downtown in Halifax. It's a great idea to be able to park outside the downtown core and use public transit to get around in the city.
ReplyDelete