Coins won’t cut it if you’re planning to park in certain lots along Ontario’s Rideau Canal. Parks Canada, the government agency responsible for the 202-kilometre waterway that stretches from Ottawa to Kingston, has transitioned several of its lots to pay-by-phone parking.
The transition started in 2021 when Parks Canada contracted the French company Indigo to handle parking lot payments. Previously, visitors inserted coins into a parking metre to pay. It was only in the last year that these machines were replaced.
Now, Indigo has placed signs in the parking lots with QR codes. Visitors are required to scan the QR codes with their smartphones and pay through the Indigo Neo app.
“The Indigo parking solution is the most cost-effective way for Parks Canada to collect parking fees, while minimizing the expense to Canadian taxpayers, as parking machines are prone to vandalism in these locations and are increasingly expensive to repair,” said Haley Lang, a spokesperson for Parks Canada, in an email.
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Parks Canada has introduced Indigo payments in five of its 23 parking lots along the Rideau Canal: at Hartwells, Black Rapids, Hogs Back, Edmonds, and Long Island. All are lockstations in the Ottawa area. The cost to park varies by lot with Hartwells near Carleton University being the most expensive at $15.75 per day. Most of the other lots cost $8.50 per day or $2.25 per hour. Paid parking in these lots is enforced by Ottawa bylaw officers.
There has, however, been some criticism of the new payment system, with individuals arguing that it prevents people who don’t have smartphones from using the lots. As of December 2022, the Pew Research Center reported that 98 per cent of Canadians between the ages of 18 to 29 owned a smartphone, and 95 per cent of those aged between 30 to 49 owned a smartphone—yet only 72 per cent of those over the age of 50 owned a smartphone.
Elderly visitors who don’t own smartphones are the most likely to be affected by the new payment system. In her email, Lang said there is an option for those who don’t own a smartphone. They can pre-book their parking spot and pay with a credit card using a computer through the Indigo website. According to the same Pew Research Center study, 95 per cent of adult Canadians reported using the internet either through a computer or a smartphone. “Should an individual arrive on site after pre-booking and the lot is full, they can request a refund from Indigo,” Lang said.
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Parks Canada is far from the first to introduce Indigo’s paid parking system. According to Indigo, it’s been operating in Canada for 40 years. It manages parking spots in 79 cities across eight provinces (none in Saskatchewan or PEI). It has 315,000 on- and off-street parking stalls and 450,000 active Canadian app users. Those looking to book and pay for an Indigo-operated parking spot along the Rideau Canal in the Ottawa area can do so through the company’s app or here on its website.
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