Calgary

Calgary moves to restrict parking for one-way car share services

Calgary city council will vote on a new parking policy which will limit the number of car share vehicles parked in metered zones.

Car2Go customers could pay more under new rules

Car2Go vehicles parked in downtown Calgary. (CBC)

A Calgary city council committee has voted in favour of a new parking policy, which would limit the number of car share vehicles parked in metered zones.  

The city wants to crack down on clusters of Car2Go vehicles taking up downtown parking spots.

The new rules would limit car sharing services to 25 per cent of the parking spaces in a metered zone over the period of a month. 

If the company exceeds that limit, the fee it pays the city for parking will go up. 

The new rules will not have an impact on where and when customers are allowed to park the cars. It will be up to the company to monitor the use of parking spots and move the vehicles.

The location manager for Car2Go in Calgary, Jon Wycoco, says he doesn't yet know how this will affect Car2Go users. But he said the new rules could increase the cost of doing business and that would likely be passed on. 

In an email to customers earlier this week, the company had warned that users would have to pay parking fines if they parked in ParkPlus spots.

Coun. Evan Woolley says that's not the case.

"I think that they were misinformed to the extent to which this policy is going to impact them," Woolley said. "Car2gos can still park anywhere that they could yesterday."

The car share parking policy now goes to city council for a vote.