Councillors to vote on new parking plan that includes surge pricing

The City of Winnipeg has unveiled a five-year parking strategy that includes more spaces and “surge pricing” during busy times and special events.

If the plan is adopted, the $270,000 strategy would pilot electric vehicle-charging stations downtown, develop an app for all parking needs and update accessibility signs for drivers with disabilities.

The strategy aims to manage the parking stock amid increased curb use.

“With the federal government providing funding for housing and transit, the city is densifying and we need our parking policies to better reflect that,” said Coun. Janice Lukes, who is chairwoman of the public works committee, which will vote on it Nov. 6. It requires final approval from council.

The strategy falls in line with the city’s recently implemented transit master plan, as well as CentrePlan 2050, which is in the works for the development of downtown parks, streets, and buildings over the next three decades.

Rideshare pick-ups, taxis, food deliveries, carsharing and loading all compete for curb space; the limited areas need to be managed to “meet community needs while also advancing broader goals like sustainability and city-building,” the report states.

More paid and time-limited parking could be added in different areas of the city.

Surge pricing — the practice of charging more during periods of high demand — could help manage the city’s limited parking space in high-traffic areas, Lukes said.

Baseline parking prices wouldn’t necessarily change.

“If there’s a big event downtown and everyone wants parking, maybe the rates are higher so we keep parking available in areas where people would otherwise be parked for hours,” Lukes said.

Demand for paid parking has steadily recovered since the COVID-19 pandemic. Drivers paid for 2.5 million hours worth of parking in 2023, which marked a 25 per cent jump from one year earlier but was still below the 2019 high of 2.8 million, the report states.

In 2024, purchases climbed again to 2.6 million hours, only five per cent below pre-pandemic levels.

Last year, the city managed approximately 3,850 paid parking spaces on-street, plus nearly 1,250 stalls in one city-owned downtown parkade and seven surface lots.

The strategy could empower the Winnipeg Parking Authority to ticket rule-breakers in private parking lots.

The document also suggests the city establish several designated rideshare loading zones, such as in front of the downtown arena and Burton Cummings Theatre on Smith Street.

Vehicle-for-hire trips have grown rapidly, to more than 10 million in 2024 from 6.7 million rides in 2022, the report said.

Lukes said it’s time to fall in line with other major cities that have implemented similar strategies.

“We need to have a better, unified system,” she said. “Our city is growing and the demand on street parking is greater and greater.”

The Downtown Winnipeg BIZ and other local improvement zones participated in sessions about the strategy and say its focus is ensuring the proposed changes support accessibility and vibrancy downtown.

“It’s important that any new measures don’t create additional barriers for how people get to and move through downtown, and that they don’t negatively impact our local businesses, their staff and the community they serve,” Downtown BIZ chief operating officer Rhiannon Hayes said in an email.

Further stakeholder and public engagement would be required for certain actions in the strategy, the report states.

nicole.buffie@frepress.mb.ca

Parking and mobility report