I parked at a hotel downtown where I have been parking for years, a few times a month. Whenever I want to stay at work late, I take my car instead of the bus and park at the hotel. Anyway, I parked there on Monday and am used to the “in by 9am out by 6pm” for $12. Basically the same deal for several years. When I went to pay the ticket they charged me $25 instead of the usual $12. I called the hotel and they told me that this was the new rate to be competitive with other locations in the area given the few parking spots in the downtown (i.e. we can gouge you because there are only so many spots and a lot of demand). I could have parked next door for $11.50/day a little further down the street, but parked at the hotel for what I thought was 50 cents more if they had put a sign the size of their old “early bird rate” out front before you enter. I never would have parked there otherwise. Thanks for the large fair warning. —Meg
This article appears in May 17-23, 2012.
did you thnk of trying to park in the casino parking lot? or maybe they charge too much too? not sure anymore, because i don’t drive around and park downtown, for any reason.
but if you look around, i’m damn sure there are cheaper places to park. maybe even an apartment place.
Buy a Bike
Well Survivor, you could have walked. Or, did the Water Commission repossess your crocs?
Uh… why didn’t you park at the cheaper place?
Were there ANY signs indicating the new rate?
Betcha there was!
I dunno, there’s great public transit service to the downtown core for the working schleps, so I don’t really feel sorry for people with cars when they bitch about parking issues. I have a car too, but parking at work is a bitch, so I take the bus. And for those of you outside of HRM there are plenty of free park-and-rides available. When I commuted from the valley, I’d park in the park and ride in sackville and take the bus in.
Shit, your bus pass’d pay for itself in a week=2 days of parking ffs. And that’s just in parking, not gas/insurance/maintenance/etc….
I’d have at least asked where the signage was that was missed, describing the new pay structure….
Welcome to Halifax! Is this your first time here?
Cripes, OB. You should know that parking here sucks, to say the least. While this was no doubt, an infuriating move on the part of the hotel, the way I read it is that it’s nothing more than a case of buyer beware. This is the hotel’s parking lot. They can charge as much or as little as they want for parking. Maybe this was a case where they were consistently running out of parking for their guests because of non-guest usage? (That’d be you!) Regardless, they probably had/have notices of rate changes posted in the hotel itself and/or sent them out to the regular, pre-paid parking customers. (That’s not you!) You could complain but it’s probably going to accomplish SFA. You’d be much better off parking a little further out of the city and bussing/ferry-ing into the downtown core. Or just bus it right from home.
I’m not sure what a so-called reality teevee show (previously stated) has to do with no notification of parking rate increases but I’d be pissed too and like the owner of this bitch stated, had she known of the increase would have chosen an alternative. The bike suggestion is an excellent one: the cost and availability of peninsular parking is avoided, plus biking is a healthy and environmentally positive choice.
I have no business degree, but if you want to be “competitive” with other locations, shouldn’t the rate go down to attract other clients?
Doesn’t make much sence.
An inside joke, rrramblin’. A reference to a now legendary bitch which sparked a furious debate about the boundaries of personal responsibility.
Tis true PK. Do you know how many “Yadda yadda Express to Downtown” buses I see go down Spring Garden while waiting 5 minutes for my bus? Like 6. Some of them are the same fucking number and only have like 5 people in them. I never had trouble finding parking downtown ever. But then again, I’m not a lazy POS who circles the same block 8 times looking for something right in front of the door of where I’m going.
I heard a rumour a while back – if you park at the Casino, go to the Casino, stick a $20.00 in one of the slots, get the receipt or chit – go to work – come back whenever, put receipt or chit in another slot, cash out – voila, go to the service desk, get chit stamped – free parking. Never tried it but it would be interesting to know if it worked.
Did you read the sign? (if there is one – i don’t know)
Because you can argue that what’s on the sign is what you pay.
You’re right TTFN. My buddy worked at Purdy’s Tower, that’s what she did everyday for parking. Not sure if they would’ve changed that since last year tho…