As a daily commuter of our “super fabulous” transit system (ha!), I tend to drive in from out of town, park at the Sportsplex and then take the bus over. This stops a little more traffic into the DT core and helps with Carbon a tiny bit. I thought it was free to park there too, as there are no signs except right next to the bus area. Apparently not, I got a ticket, for trying to be good, in a unmarked area… Seriously? —Hater of HRM
This article appears in Apr 29 – May 5, 2010.
You didn’t know that there were signs there? What the fuck? It’s huge and you can’t miss it!
I’m with TBAC… There are plenty of signs that indicate that you have to pay to use the parking lot. It also tells you in the schedule as well, dumbass. Now granted, the parking lot is only used by about 20% of The Sportplex’s actual users at any given time, leaving about 1 million spaces open… but they’re up front about the whole “you need to pay to use the parking lot” thing.
There should be free parking for transit users. I would think it would increase ridership. Let’s face it transit sucks around the city. Direct routes are what people want; take the link buses for example. If I could park for free at a terminal I’d think about taking my car off the busy downtown streets. It would eliminate a number of transfers, plus at the end of the day I could hop in my car to do my errands before heading home for the day. Make me stand outside in the rain & snow and I’ll pick to sit in my warm/air conditioned car in traffic jams any day. I’ll still get home faster. It’s almost as if Metro transit tries its best to make riding the bus a pain.
if cities were truly serious about urban transit all transit parking would be free; monthly passes would be very affordable/cheap bus only lanes would be very enforced taxis would be deregulated and allowed to use the bus lanes; but most aren’t
they have things called park and ride, i would call transit and find out if that was one, if so, take ticket top cop shop and shove in their face. make sure you get name at transit first tho.
WTF!! Even if there were no signs why would you think that parking in the parking lot of a well-used fitness establishment should be free for you every day? But if there are signs, yeah your stupidity trumps your “trying to be good”……
Just drive into the core….go early to get the best parking spots.
Eh. The parking lot is owned by the sportsplex, is it not? Why should they provide free parking for transit riders?
There are lots of free park and rides around HRM, however, there are a few that you have to pay to use. How much does it cost/month to get a pass to park there? Probably a whole lot cheaper than paying to park (and easier than attempting to find a spot downtown) in downtown hfx. Check out the rates at Purdy’s for example, especially on a monthly basis. Blah.
Also: I’ve never parked in that lot, but even I knew it wasn’t free because there *are* signs, OP.
I believe MT is in the process of redoing that terminal area now. Again PK If they tried to make it more convenient. It has potential to reduce traffic in the downtown and increase riderships which are goals for the city of Halifax. If transit was convenient I’d take it. It’s not so I charge my parking, which just gets passed down to others maybe you.
Here’s a tip – always park really close to the Sportsplex, then walk over to where the buses pull up. The parking enforcers have no idea who is using the gym and they don’t go through the trouble to check. What they do is assume any car parked far away from the Sportsplex for more than a couple of hours is a bus-rider, and ticket them. They never ticket my car, because I park really close to the Sportsplex.