The City of Surrey council鈥檚 initiative to provide free two-hour parking around its hospital won鈥檛 be catching on at Kelowna General Hospital anytime soon.
Craig Paynton, Interior Health manager of protection, parking and fleet services, said Surrey鈥檚 move has caught people鈥檚 attention, but there are no plans for IH to follow suit at the KGH parkade, which provides more than 335 spaces.
鈥淚t鈥檚 one of those conversations that comes up periodically and what Surrey has done will spark it again,鈥� Paynton acknowledged. 鈥淣obody likes to pay for parking at a hospital but there is a reason and method behind it to cover the costs of operating a parkade.鈥�
RELATED:
Those KGH parkade costs, he noted, include general maintenance, security, lighting, fixing pavement potholes, line space painting and snow removal, expenses that otherwise IH would have to redirect funding from patient care services to pay for.
鈥淲e do an annual review of our parking rates, taking into account the cost of operating a parkade and local pay parking rates as well. It is about trying to find a balance between that and considering the parking impact on the surrounding neighbourhood if our rates are too expensive.
鈥淲e do have financial exceptions for medical hardships that are reviewed on a case by case basis through our hospital social worker program regarding daily and monthly rates.鈥�
In Surrey, public paid parking at its hospital is provided by the city and Fraser Health Authority.
The Fraser Health parking lot rate is $4.25 for the first hour, $3.50 for each subsequent hour. The rates at some IH facilities are as follows: Kelowna General Hospital鈥�$1.40 hourly, $6.50 daily; Vernon Jubilee Hospital鈥�$1 hourly, $5 daily; Penticton Regional Hospital鈥�$1 hourly, $5 daily; East Kootenay Regional Hospital鈥�$1 hourly, $5 daily.
In Surrey, the free parking was a promise made by newly elected mayor Doug McCallum during the recent municipal election campaign.
RELATED:
It would encompass city paid parking spots at both city hall and the hospital, which is estimated would cost that city an estimated $850,000 in revenue annually鈥�$490,000 at city hall and $360,00 at the hospital.
McCallum said the move has financial implications but called it 鈥渢he right thing to do鈥� for taxpayers.
He said his council will also work to convince the Fraser Health Region to follow in his city鈥檚 footsteps and offer free, two-hour parking for the hospital parking spaces it oversees.
Delta resident Jon Buss, a retired businessman, applauded Surrey council鈥檚 decision, claiming high parking rates are a financial barrier to visiting family and friends of patients, and that causes unnecessary stress.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not right,鈥� said Buss, who earlier this month launched his own website hospitalpayparking.ca.鈥滻t鈥檚 a place where people are at their lowest, their weakest, their most stressed鈥e can鈥檛 be making money-makers out of them.鈥�
barry.gerding@blackpress.ca
Like us on and follow us on
