It can be hard to find that ideal parking spot in uptown Saint John, but the CEO of the city’s parking commission says there’s no shortage of spaces.
Ian MacKinnon told council during a recent presentation that there are 5,800 off-street and on-street spaces in the uptown.
MacKinnon says a recent study finds only three in five of those spaces are used during the busiest times of the day.
“There’s sufficient parking uptown.” SJ Transit and Parking Commission CEO Ian MacKinnon tells council a recent survey found there are just over 5,800 parking spots in the uptown core and the peak utilization is 59%.
— Brad Perry (@BradMPerry) May 22, 2018
“In fact, one of the recommendations that was in the report is for the parking commission not to acquire any more parking spaces until such time as growth has caught up,” he says.
MacKinnon says some areas are near capacity at certain times, like Friday and Saturday evenings, but there is “sufficient parking” within a short walk — under 300 to 400 metres away.
Coun. Blake Armstrong agrees. He says a lot of people want to park right in front of where they’re going, but there’s lots of parking nearby.
— Brad Perry (@BradMPerry) May 22, 2018
“In fact, we might have too much [parking] right now,” he says.
The study also looks at future uptown parking demands and MacKinnon says they’re still going over that information.
