Rates are up as pay parking returns to downtown Penticton

Metered parking in downtown Penticton is back in effect.

Penticton bylaw supervisor Tina Siebert says the City offered free on-street downtown parking from March through December, 2020 in response to COVID-19 restrictions.

“Once that was complete, the City reverted to pay on-street parking again. It was free from March to December. We did some research and found most municipalities only offered free parking for a few months, so we feel we were pretty generous with that,” Siebert says.

The City began actively enforcing parking bylaws this week.

The cost of parking is also up with the new year. Siebert says hourly rates have increased from $1.25 to $2.

“I don’t anticipate it going any higher than that for a while,” she says.

Parking can also be paid for through the Passport Canada mobile app.

Monthly parking at the City’s lots are not affected by this change. That includes scramble, reserved and hourly pay stationed lots.

Siebert says there are opportunities for long-term parking in the city’s scramble lots for those requiring downtown parking limits in excess of two hours.

The parking stalls can be rented for $50 a month. Annual permits are also available.

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