Surrey poised to provide free two-hour parking at hospital, city hall
Hospital visitors in particular say they already have enough to worry about, let alone pay to park
Some drivers going to Surrey Memorial Hospital and city hall will no longer have to pay to park — one of the campaign promises made by the city's new mayor, Doug McCallum.
A city staff report detailing the proposed changes will be discussed and voted on Monday, and is expected to pass — despite estimates that scrapping paid parking will result in lost revenues of about $850,000 per year.
According to the report, the city operates 827 parking spaces at its city hall parkade, which serves the municipal office, the library, a hotel and a university, as well as other businesses in the area.
Around Surrey Memorial Hospital, the city operates 103 on-street pay parking spaces. Fraser Health and private companies operate another 2,041 spots on city-owned land. The report says the city aims to target those next.
Pay parking at hospitals has long been a contentious issue. Many say it's unfair to charge people in need of medical services or those who are there to support them.
Such was the case for Mohammed Taizum, who was visiting a sick friend at the hospital Saturday. Taizum says he has spent about 30 hours at the hospital since Tuesday, and paid $30 in parking in the first day alone.
"When somebody's really sick you want to come and visit them because you never know what is going to happen," he said.
Not there by choice
Coun. Mandeep Nagra was at Surrey Memorial on Saturday, standing close to a car and pointing at a parking ticket.
"That's the last thing people worry about — is they're getting fined or paying their parking," Nagra said.
"I think the hospital is one place where you don't go by choice, it's the place where you have to go when you're not feeling good or you're sick or your loved one is sick."
Nagra says he intends to vote in favour of the motion to scrap parking fees at the two sites.
However, the motion does come at a cost. The staff report points out that annual pay parking revenues from the city hall parkade would drop by an estimated $490,000, while revenues from the on-street parking spots would drop by $360,000.
With files from Micki Cowan