Aldermen fail in attempt to cut park-and-ride fee to $1

An attempt by several Calgary aldermen to reduce the city's charge for park-and-ride service to just a loonie has failed.

To cut the new fee to $1 from $3, at least eight councilors would have had to vote in favour of reopening the entire city budget document during a council meeting on Monday.

Only seven did, ending aldermen Joe Connelly and Jim Stevenson's attempt to lower the fee, which is supposed to generate about $4.5 million a year for transit initiatives.

The city introduced the fees on a site-by-site basis starting in mid March.

At the park-and-ride site at the Westside Regional Recreation Centre Monday morning, commuters interviewed by CBC News had mixed reaction to the $3 fee.

Joan Cameron said she doesn't mind the fee because it is easier to find a parking space.

"I never used to get a place to park before," she said. "If it was only a dollar I probably wouldn't get a place to park."

Roger Straathof agreed the lot is emptier than usual, but he believes that means fewer people are using the transit system.

"This parking lot would be full and now its 70 per cent full. So people are voting with their tires right? They are driving away from here."

Calgary Transit has 13,177 parking spaces at park-and-ride sites.

Council votes in favour of road closure

Meanwhile, people who live in the neighbourhoods of Rocky Ridge in the city's northwest corner are set to lose what has become the main route in and out of the neighbourhood.

On Monday, council voted in favour of closing the intersection at Rocky Ridge Road and Crowchild Trail. The enabling bylaw will likely be ratified in two weeks and the intersection will should be closed at some point this summer. 

Direct access to Crowchild Trail was never part of the plan for the area. The city has long intended to build an LRT station at the intersection, and the province is putting up a new interchange just up the road at Country Hills Boulevard.

Ward Ald. Dale Hodges said efforts to find some way to keep the intersection open have failed, so the city is putting in a number of measures to deal with the extra traffic on other streets in the neighbourhood, including traffic lights, dual turn lanes, and "no parking" signs.