Visitors to Banff may have to pay more to park to help tourist town deal with congestion

BANFF – Council is looking at hiking the summertime paid parking rate from $6 to $7 an hour.

Town of Banff administrators, who are recommending the increase, say previous rate increases from $2 to $3 in 2021 to the current $5 off-peak and $6 in summer seem to be having little to no effect on parking behaviour, with downtown parking occupancy at maximum levels during peak times in July and August.

“These high occupancy rates contribute to downtown congestion, as vehicles circle around to find empty parking stalls,” said Steve Allan, engineering coordinator for the Town of Banff, in a report going to council on Monday, Nov. 25.

Visitor paid parking and the residential parking permit systems were introduced in summer 2021 to encourage drivers to park at the train station intercept lot, use transit, walk, and cycle as alternatives to getting around Banff in personal cars.

The idea behind paid parking is to help increase stall turn-over and as a result, the availability of short-term parking stalls in the downtown core, which in turn aims to reduce congestion caused by vehicles circling to find parking.

Mayor Corrie DiManno said it appears the current rate does not have a significant influence over people’s decisions to come into the downtown core.

“I would be curious to see if another small, incremental rate increase would help with increasing stall turnover and making parking spaces more frequently available in peak times,” she said.

“We know vehicles searching and circling the downtown core for parking adds to our congestion challenges so increasing the rate in summertime as a solution is a worthwhile conversation.”

For every $1 increase in parking rates, additional revenue generated is approximately $725,000 for the peak rate period and $488,000 for the off-peak rate period, resulting in a yearly revenue increase of approximately $1.2 million.

Annual revenue collected from paid parking was $4.3 million in 2023 and revenue so far this year is about $5.4 million.

The current rates are still lower than those in the Calgary downtown of $10-12 an hour, Banff’s Cascade Plaza of $7/hour, and the Banff Springs Hotel of $35 per night.

Rates are comparable with Niagara-on-the-Lake at $5.50/hour, and higher than other communities like Canmore at $4/hour, Jasper $4.50/hour, Whistler $2.50/hour, and Sylvan Lake at $3/hour.

If approved, DiManno said additional revenues would continue to go toward enhancing transit and other initiatives that promote active modes.

“These have helped reduce the amount of cars on Banff’s finite road system,” she said.

Meanwhile, administration is also recommending a seasonal change to the number of paid versus free stalls within the downtown Bear Street parkade after monitoring showed stalls that were changed to paid parking earlier this year were not well used in May, and are again under-utilized as winter approaches and visitation drops.

In summer, the parkade could continue to operate as it does now under one option to be discussed Monday, with the lower two floors set aside for paid parking and the upper two floors free. However, in the off-peak season, the parkade could be configured with the ground floor paid parking and the rest of the parkade free, nine-hour parking.

Administration is currently not recommending Bow Avenue’s free 96 stalls go to paid parking. If council opts to go with paid parking, however, it is estimated Bow Avenue could generate about $657,000 in new revenue.

Allan said a consideration for council is the 10-year capital plan calls for design in 2025-26 for the redevelopment of Bow Avenue, with options that include removing most or potentially all of the existing stalls.

“Should council choose to implement paid parking, then the completion of Bow Avenue redevelopment would then involve a significant loss of paid parking revenue,” he said.

In addition, Allan said Bow Avenue is also the parking location of choice for visitors and residents wanting to access the canoe dock area to launch canoes and kayaks.

“It is impractical for this user group to use transit given many are transporting watercraft to this location, and their stays tend to be longer in duration, so the existing free nine-hour parking is particularly attractive to this group,” he said.

DiManno said she is inclined to discuss a seasonal approach to the Bear Street parkade, while further big picture conversations are had about the redesign of Bow Avenue and any improvements with Roam transit.

“I would like to keep the strategic vision forefront when talking about both of these parking areas,” she said.