Exempt delivery vehicles from parking tickets, owner urges

Delivery drivers shouldn't get parking tickets, says the owner of a company that services downtown Calgary.

Mission Possible delivery owner Sam Casselman said her drivers often have to make quick stops to drop off packages, and some are getting a parking ticket every day.

"I don't really feel like we're parking. I mean we're just kind of pulling in and pausing for a moment. It's a pause. It's not a park."

Casselman said the city's strict rules are hurting both her industry and her contractors, who have to pay the tickets themselves.

'We're just kind of pulling in and pausing for a moment. It's a pause. It's not a park.' —Sam Casselman, delivery service owner

"I think for a lot of drivers that are in this business, it's hard for them because they feel like, 'Well why should I even bother? Like, I might as well go work for minimum wage somewhere because that's all I'm going to end up making after I pay all my parking tickets.'"

Dale Fraser, general manager of the Calgary Parking Authority, said parking should be considered a cost of doing business downtown.

"In downtown Calgary, you're in a paid parking area that requires payment. That doesn't allow people to stop and to conduct quick business and try avoid enforcement," he said.

But drivers don't get ticketed if they're quickly picking someone up or dropping them off and everyone gets a five-minute grace period to put money in the ParkPlus machine, he said.

Casselman said the number of tickets has jumped since the city introduced the ParkPlus system in September 2007.

"There's definitely an increase in tickets since that van can go and they just zoom around. It's such a cash grab, they just can do it so quickly," she said.

Under the ParkPlus system, which replaces coin-operated meters, each city block is split into zones, and one or two pay stations are placed on each block. A driver must go to one of the machines and punch in the zone where the vehicle is parked, the licence plate number, the time and the method of payment.