Pay parking is slowly coming back to Kelowna’s downtown.
On-street parking closest to the waterfront, as well as parking along Rose Avenue and Abbott Street in front of the Kelowna General Hospital, are now back to being paid parking areas.
The remainder of on-street parking areas will remain no-charge until June 15, with posted time limits still in effect.
“We have seen a steady increase in activity within all parking areas, with a more significant rise in the downtown and hospital areas,” the city’s manager of parking services Dave Duncan said.
“The re-introduction of pay parking helps to establish on-street spaces as short-term, encouraging long-term parkers to find parking in parkades and parking lots.”
The first 30 minutes of parking in the downtown and South Pandosy on-street business areas will be free of charge when people use the PayByPhone app. The city said this is to minimize touching hard surfaces.
The offer will be available to users once a day until Aug. 31.
The app is available through the App Store, Google Play and Blackberry stores.
The city suspended paid parking in late March as demand declined once people started working from home and self-isolated.
Temporary five-minute parking zones will remain in place until further notice, to help support businesses that rely on curbside pick-up and pick-up delivery.
For more information on the city’s parking strategy, as well as to see real-time occupancy, visit this website.
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