Transportation: Parking
Parking in the downtown area is scarce, and clogged by commuters. It's also very
congested around the University district on weekdays. There are a number of
public garages and lots on Granville, Lower Water Street, and Spring Garden
Road, typically charging about $1.50 per hour. Some of the downtown hotels
offer guest parking. Longer term parking for those working in the downtown
core is very limited and the cost can be as high $50 a week.
Meters
The Halifax Regional Municipality has recently introduced color-coded Parking Meters to enhance access to short term parking. The meters take all coins above a nickel (5 cents), and charge 25 cents per 15 minutes (quarter hour). The colored caps signify the maximum allowable time for that meter, so you should only deposit coins up to the maximum time for that meter. For example, if you inserted $2.00into a maximum 1 hour meter, you will only receive 1 hour of paid parking.
Yellow: | 5 hours / $5.00 |
Green: | 2 hour / $2.00 |
Silver/Grey: | 1 hour / $1.00 |
Red: | 30 minutes / 50¢ |
Public Parking Meters are in effect from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday to Friday - excluding holidays. The City of Halifax has implemented a trial of 2-hour only free Saturday parking for on-street meters in the downtown core.
Parking Ticket Enforcement
Halifax has nine civilian/contract personnel on foot patrol for the downtown Halifax and Dartmouth business districts, with four civilian/contracted vehicular patrols to respond to telephoned complaints. Together, they issue 200,000 parking infraction tickets each year, of which 70% are paid right away, and 70,000 getting summonses for a court appearance. If you have questions regarding parking tickets phone, 902-490-4141, 1-800-835-6428 (Nova Scotia only).
Impark Lots
Impark is a private company that manages private parking lots, with its prices based on "supply and demand". Monthly parkers are issued a monthly decal for the specific lot you select and may only be used at that location, because each is owned by different owners. Lots not used entirely for monthly parking are open to transient parking users, though you may find some lots with spaces marked "full" to allow for commitments to pre-paid monthly parkers. Some state of the art parking meters that accept credit cards, two-dollar coins, one dollar coins and quarters. If you encounter an out of order meter, please contact Impark at (902) 420-1976, along with your licence number so they can send a technician and you will not receive a violation notice for that meter. If you did not pay to use such a lot (or did not pay for your full time), Impark writes violation notices based on common law and contract law.
Special Rates
Evening and weekend parking rates at most facilities are $1.00 for every three hours.
"Park-in-the-Heart" rates sponsored by the Downtown Business Association to attract more shoppers and visitors to downtown offer a maximum parking rate of $2.00 from 6:00 pm to 1:00 am, 7 days a week and $1.00 for the first 3 hours before 6:00 pm on weekends.
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