COCHRANE—A Cochranite seeking the dismissal of and compensation for a ticket she received for parking in front of a COLT transit stop was dismissed by Cochrane Council at the regular council meeting last Monday (March 8).
Cochranite Laurie Quillian appeared before Town Council at the Monday (Feb. 22) regular council meeting to request the cancellation of her $150 parking ticket, a total review of COLT bus stop sign bylaws, restitution of $1,000 for the time and energy spent on the issue and the reimbursement of $150 to every person that has received a parking ticket to date.
During the meeting Town of Cochrane Sustainability and Transit Coordinator, Devin LaFleche and Town administration were directed to further investigate the issue and return to council.
At the March 8 meeting, LaFleche reported there are currently 145 COLT stops in Cochrane and since COLT service began in October 2019 nine parking tickets have been issued. They have received two complaints regarding tickets including the grievance issued by Quillian.
He added council should not cancel, repay or provide restitution for the ticket as there is a judicial process available through the provincial courts.
The Town has received 24 complaints of vehicles being parked at the bus stops since October 2019, LaFleche said, explaining parking tickets are issued via a complaint or through officer observation.
"We only deal with vehicles that have been parked there for a long time, we see it throughout the whole day and then they make the complaint," LaFleche said.
Mayor Jeff Genung said nine tickets is not something council needs to "sound the alarm on," as it remains up to the motorist to adhere to the rules of the road.
Genung cautioned council needs to be careful to ensure they are not looking at every "ticket, water bill" and other things that could be dealt with administratively.
"We need to really find a line where we are applying a fair and equitable application of our policies and bylaws," Genung said. "We need to stay out of the rest of it."
Councillor Marni Fedeyko noted when looking at other towns and cities they appear to have benches or shelters in place to make it more obvious it is a transit stop.
"I do feel there is not a whole lot of tickets here and our service is fairly new. Some people who come to our community they may not know [about COLT]," Fedeyko said. "It's not like our bus service is something that has been running for years and years— I think that if you're willing to stand in front of council in a public forum maybe you actually need that money more than we need to be concerned about."
LaFleche told council, changes are coming to some COLT transit stops in the spring. These changes include the addition of benches and shelters at Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre, the Protective Services building and The Transit Hub. COLT is also looking to add fixed routes as part of a local regional service integration.
Coun. Morgan Nagel said he felt Quillian had a fair point on the lack of visibility indicating no parking at the stop. He added that including a larger and separate no-parking sign could help to alleviate these issues.
LaFleche said it would cost around $11,000 to add double-sided signs at transit stops, curb paint for all stops excluding those that are already painted would cost around $23,000 and solar bus stop lighting for 40 stops would cost around $126,000. He estimated adding no parking signs would cost between an estimated $9,000 to $10,000 to install.
"I think it should be considered for future budget inclusion, maybe not something we rush out and not necessarily the two-sided, but just adding in a no-parking sign that's a little clearer for people to see," Nagel said.
LaFleche said speaking with other members of the Canadian Urban Transit Association members nine tickets and 24 complaints is a small number in comparison with other urban areas.
The 30cm by 45cm signs indicating COLT bus stops were designed after consultation with Alberta Transportation and a study of similar transit systems in other towns including Airdrie, Calgary Cold, Lake, Fort Saskatchewan and Leduc.
"Across North America parking in front of a transit stop is not allowed," LaFleche said.
He noted "no parking within five metres" is included on the bottom of each sign.
LaFleche said the key concern in creating the signs was traffic safety. A part of this was ensuring the COLT bus stop signs did not interfere with other driving signs or parking spots.
When the COLT transit stops were created in Cochrane, they were put in areas that would not affect parking— This includes placing them by crosswalks, fire hydrants and fire lanes.
Coun. Tara McFadden said even though transit is new to Cochrane it is beholden on the driver to read signs to ensure they are parked in the correct spot.
"I think it's a good sign," McFadden said. "It hasn't been a problem really yet, in my opinion, and as a driver myself you see a sign that's out there it beholden on me to make sure I understand what the point of the sign is."
She noted if these tickets are being thrown out by the provincial court system the town can further investigate.
"I'm not really seeing it as a community-wide user problem at this point."
