Prepare to pay a bit more to park as the Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) is introducing year-round paid parking on Day Lots 4 and 5, beginning April 15, with the funds directed towards active transportation initiatives and the transit system.
The move to implement year-round paid parking in the two day lots aims to promote parking turnover, advance the RMOW's Big Moves Climate Action Strategy of reducing automobile usage, and getting non-residents to pay their share for the local transportation system, according to Whistler Mayor Jack Crompton.
“Paying for parking is one of the few ways non-residents participate in funding Whistler’s transition to other modes of transportation. Transit and other preferred modes of transportation are funded by parking fees, which ultimately reduces the costs for much-needed climate action infrastructure,” said Crompton in a release.
The cost to park in the Day Lots will remain at the current rate, $2.50 per hour, or $8 per day, in effect daily until 5 p.m. Meanwhile, the price of monthly parking passes has been reduced, from $36 to $25.
Previously, parking in lots 4 and 5 was free 150 days a year in the off-season, a measure that had long been positioned as a way to help locals keep their costs down in one of the most expensive resort towns in the country.
In addition to the year-round pay parking in Day Lots 4 and 5, parking on several municipal streets and parking lots has also gone up.
Starting April 3, hourly rates increased, from $2 to $2.50, on Sundial Crescent, Blackcomb Way, Village Green, the visitors’ loop, municipal hall, the library, and in both the underground and surface lots at the conference centre. The evening rates for the underground conference centre lot and at the library rose from $5 to $6.25, while the daily rate increased there from $20 to $25. The monthly rate for the conference centre’s underground Level 4 lot went up, too, from $70 to $88.
“We need to motivate every resident and visitor to adjust how they move around the resort. Personal vehicles are Whistler’s largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, and we are not on track to meet our target: to reduce emissions by 50 per cent of 2007 levels for 2030,” said the RMOW's manager of climate and environment, Luisa Burhenne, in the release. “Every measure we take right now counts.”
The decision to implement the increased parking rates came about after Whistler's mayor and council recommended the Parking Lot Operating Committee (PLOC) implement the change at the Jan. 24 council meeting. The PLOC includes two senior staff members from the RMOW and two from Whistler Blackcomb.
In 2022, the RMOW generated a significant amount of parking revenue, exceeding the municipality's budget expectations by $918,000. Last June, the RMOW raised parking rates in Day Lots 1 to 5. The rate changes are estimated to create $400,000 in additional revenue and another $267,000 from the year-round day lots, for a combined annual increase of $667,000.
According to the RMOW, the funds from user-pay parking go towards local transit and sustainable transportation programs, like the summer bike valet service, and transit subsidies, like the Spirit Pass and free transit days, through the Community Transportation Initiative Fund.
Additionally, thanks to the increased revenue, the High School Transit Pass Pilot Program will expand to include Grade 7 students registered in Whistler schools. With local kids under 12 already riding free, in addition to its high-school pilot, now all Whistler children get free transit from birth until Grade 12.
Whistler residents and employees can purchase a resident-employee parking pass online or in person at municipal hall during business hours or by phone at 604-932-5535.
Learn more about the parking changes at Whistler.ca/parking.
