New Brunswick has only seen one significant snowfall this season, but the winter parking ban already has many frustrated in Moncton.
Isabelle LeBlanc, spokesperson for the City of Moncton, says 394 tickets have been issued since Dec. 1. She says the city issued 2,500 warnings about the impending parking ban towards the end of Moncton.
“In 2016 we had issued about 1,600 parking tickets for violations. In 2017 we had just about 2,400 tickets that were issued because of parking restriction infractions,” Leblanc says.
The city experimented with a pilot project last year that allowed overnight parking in the downtown core as long as the weather was fine. That pilot project will continue this year.
Residents say that policy should cover the whole city.
“I think the on-street parking should follow the weather conditions,” says resident Linda Lutes, “this fall being a prime example when there's been no need to have people off the streets.”
There is no on-street parking between 12 a.m. and 7 a.m. from Dec. 1 to March 31 in Dieppe. Moncton follows the same timeframe, but the bylaw is extended to April 15. Riverview also restricts on-street parking during the same hours. Their by-law runs from Dec. 1 to April 1.
In Riverview, 90 residents were issued tickets in the first week of their ban. That comes with a $50 dollar fine. A vehicle could also be towed if it gets in the way of snow removal operations.
“We get a few complaints the first week of December, but after that they tend to taper off,” says Megan Cross of the Town of Riverview.
The City of Dieppe didn’t have anyone available to speak to CTV News Monday on the issue, but did say their overnight parking ban is successful. The city says they have not written any parking tickets related to their winter ban, only issuing a few warnings.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Jonathan MacInnis.
