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Background
Quayside Drive is a densely populated neighbourhood located within easy walking distance of downtown New Westminster, SkyTrain, and other frequent transit services. Because there are not many streets in the neighbourhood, there is relatively little space for on street parking.
City staff heard a number of issues raised by community members:
- Construction workers and SkyTrain commuters parked on Quayside Drive for long periods
- Insufficient supply of on-street parking
- Inefficient use of on-street space (people park too far apart)
- Bus stops inefficiently located
What We Found
A summary of the key findings from recent parking surveys are:
- There are approximately 198 on-street parking spaces with the peak occupancy (86%) occurring on weekday evenings.
- It is estimated that approximately 20-35% of the on-street vehicles belong to residents.
- Peak visitor parking (within accessible parkades) was observed on Saturday afternoon, at 55% occupancy on average. It is unclear whether visitors are resorting to on-street parking instead.
- Time spent parked appears to have increased significantly (by up to 69%) since 2001. This may suggest more commuters and local workers are parking on Quayside Drive.
Speed humps
In spring 2018, Metro Vancouver installed temporary speed humps on Quayside Drive as a measure to mitigate potential traffic impacts from their recent utility work on Columbia Street and Front Street. Traffic data collected after their installation indicate that speeds have somewhat decreased compared to traffic speeds before their installation. Extreme speeding (>70 km/h) has declined significantly.
Open house & Survey
On April 17, 2019, City staff held a public open house at River Market to discuss parking management options with residents. Approximately 75 people attended. Following that, an online survey was available until April 30, 2019. We received over 300 responses to the survey.
The majority of open house attendees and respondents to the survey supported all three parking management measures being proposed. As well, about 75% of respondents supported the permanent installation of speed humps and raised crosswalks on Quayside Drive.
Some additional key themes from the public survey included:
- Consider resident-only or permit parking
- Allow parking for 3-4 hours instead of just 2 hours
- Add designated car-share spaces
- Quayside Drive feels safer and traffic is noticeably slower with the speed humps
- Add speed hump(s) west of the rail crossing
- Speed humps are unnecessary, cause damage and annoyance
- Reduce number of speed humps/leave only raised crosswalks
Council Approval
On May 27, 2019, Council approved the implementation of the three proposed parking management strategies (time limits, overnight parking in loading zones, and painting parking stalls) and permanent installation of speed humps and raised crosswalks, including an additional speed hump west of Renaissance Square.
Next Steps
Engineering staff are working on the final plans for the parking management measures and we expect that crews will install them in summer 2019.
We expect the speed humps and raised crosswalks will be reconstructed in summer or fall 2019 in coordination with other construction contracts ongoing in the city.
In the future, the City may consider additional options for managing the demand for parking on Quayside Drive as part of broader City-wide strategies toward parking management.
FAQ
Why can’t the City provide more parking?
- Driveways, crosswalks, hydrants, bus stops, and railway crossings take curb space – there are legal and safety requirements for these clearances
- The City’s Master Transportation Plan prioritizes walking, cycling, and transit over private motor vehicles, so our street space will be designed and allocated accordingly. For example, City policy does not support eliminating bus stops to create more parking.
Why can't the City provide permit parking?
- Currently, the City’s permit parking system is intended only for single-family and older multi-family residential areas and there is no policy to accommodate permit parking in newer high-density areas. Newer areas are expected to accommodate parking off-street.
- There are far more people in the Quayside neighbourhood interested in having permits than there is parking space available, meaning that it is extremely challenging to manage the demand for permits. Some form of lottery process may be required and residents would have little certainty of having permits from year to year.
- Where demand greatly exceeds supply, permit parking does not guarantee the availability of on-street parking, so many residents would likely be frustrated with the continued limited availability of on-street parking after having paid for permits.
How can residents help alleviate parking issues on Quayside Drive?
- Park your own vehicle(s) underground
- Encourage your visitors to park in designated visitor parking
- Store recreational or lightly-used vehicles elsewhere
- Consider matching vehicle ownership to the amount of parking you are allocated with your home
- Consider car share to reduce the total number of vehicles that need to be stored