I know it’s a pilot project but Paid Parking in Jasper isn’t exactly off to a soaring start. 

We all laughed when the MOJ had to delay the initiative due to damaged signage, but since it began in earnest, I don’t hear a lot of chuckling.

It was bound to be a tough transition for locals—we’d never had to pay for the convenience of grabbing a quick coffee. We’d never had to register our friends to come for a visit. We’d never used our smartphones as a digital wallet.

These things take some getting used to.

But if the nature of a trial balloon will always include some bumps along the way, Paid Parking so far has been like driving the Geraldine Lakes Fire Road in a Honda Civic.  

It didn’t have to be this way. Some might recall that when town administrators first proposed Paid Parking in Jasper, it was suggested we start small. Try it in the outlying parking lots, get some baseline data and don’t tick off too many people, it was gently recommended.

Nope. Council didn’t like that. It was all or nothing. They didn’t want to see the project fail because they’d moved forward in half measures.

As such, despite the warnings of the complexities of on-street parking and the number of affected stakeholders, council rammed Paid Parking through. They wanted the turn-over of high-demand spots. They wanted the downtown covered. They wanted the revenue.

That’s understandable, but now we’re dealing with the unintended consequences of that impatience. Visitors are missing the memos, downtown workers are parking on nearby residential streets and many “high-demand” zones are proving otherwise. Enforcement looks like a chore. I was in a local bakery last week when a Jasper bylaw officer called the room to attention to announce that anyone parked outside was liable to get a ticket if they hadn’t paid for parking. Because I hadn’t yet set up my phone with a payment system, embarrassingly, that group included me!

I’m not the only one embarrassed by this clunky roll out. Shop owners are having to apologize to their patrons for the situation and residents in the “permit zones” are having to explain to their would-be visitors that they can’t come by without handing over their license plate numbers.

I get it, Jasper needs to create some alternative revenue sources. Figuring out a way to (politely) ask visitors to pony up for some of the infrastructure costs that two million of them are incurring every year is on every councillor’s to-do list. And I’m not even saying the scheme totally stinks (you can find plenty of folks on Facebook who will, however). 

What I am saying is that there’s a mounting danger that the baby will get thrown out with the bathwater. If residents are fed up enough with this iteration of Paid Parking, there’s a high likelihood that they won’t even consider version 2.0. That will be unfortunate, because the problems Paid Parking is attempting to address will remain.

What are the solutions in the meantime? For one thing, better communication from our municipal leaders. Taking ownership of the initiative’s issues, for another. Finally, showing residents and visitors that local government is listening and is opening to tweaking, tinkering with and, if necessary, terminating the entire project.

Only then will those of us onboard have confidence in the project’s pilots to steer this scheme straight.

Bob Covey //thejasperlocal@gmail.com