Banff Parking Proposal

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The Town of Banff is restarting the consultation of this project with Phase 2.

Please review the Phase 1 What We Heard Report and the new Revised Draft Parking Plan - Phase 2


Provide your input in the 2020 survey below, or ask a question in the Q&A tab

Parking challenges, traffic congestion, the cost to local property taxpayers, and the environmental impact associated with the millions of visitors who come to Banff by car every year continues to affect us all.

As a town limited to 4-square-kilometres in size, Banff will see parking and traffic issues increase. This

The Town of Banff is restarting the consultation of this project with Phase 2.

Please review the Phase 1 What We Heard Report and the new Revised Draft Parking Plan - Phase 2


Provide your input in the 2020 survey below, or ask a question in the Q&A tab

Parking challenges, traffic congestion, the cost to local property taxpayers, and the environmental impact associated with the millions of visitors who come to Banff by car every year continues to affect us all.

As a town limited to 4-square-kilometres in size, Banff will see parking and traffic issues increase. This proposal helps protect parking spaces for residents, while providing greater access to available parking spaces for everyone.

The proposed plan has 3 elements to the strategy:

  • residential permit parking on downtown residential streets
  • visitor-pay parking downtown
  • free, longer-stay parking in the periphery of downtown and in the Bear Street parkade


Revised Draft Parking Plan – Phase 2

A. Visitor-pay parking in the downtown core

Following feedback from residents in Phase 1, pay parking in downtown Banff is now being proposed for visitors and commuters, with free parking for residents for parking three hours in the downtown pay zone. Residents would only pay if parking longer than 3 hours of parking in the zone. Pay parking applied to visitors would still increase the availability of spaces for short-term stays. Visitors can choose to park for free in designated lots on the periphery and upper levels of the Bear Street Parkade. Charging for parking in the core would displace longer-term parking to free spaces, encourage turnover of spaces and reduce some of the congestion caused by drivers circling the streets looking for spots. Free parking zones are included in the proposed Parking Management Plan with the intention of directing long-term parkers out of the downtown area to the periphery of town. For more details on the Visitor-Pay Parking System, review the Revised Draft Parking Plan – Phase 2 document.


B. Resident Parking Permit system

The Resident Parking Permit system is designed to protect parking spaces in the general area of residents’ homes downtown and in areas adjacent to downtown (within approximately 2 blocks) that might otherwise receive “spill over” from visitors or out-of-town commuters not wanting to pay to park downtown.

The main revision is residents would not pay any fee for the resident parking permits. The revised proposal would allow unlimited resident parking permits per dwelling for the designated downtown residential streets. Visitors and non-residents would not be allowed on the designated resident-permit streets. Guest permits would be available for residents to welcome visiting friends and family.

For more details on the Resident Parking Permit System, review the Revised Draft Parking Plan – Phase 2 document.


C. Proposed parking zones

The user-pay parking zone in the revised proposal remains virtually the same as originally proposed, with minor changes to reflect existing time limits outside the downtown core. User-pay parking is proposed to apply to visitors and commuters, with residents having three hours free. No changes are proposed to area of the Resident Parking Permit zone.

Please ask a question about the proposed parking plan and our project team will provide a response. Your question will be published at the same time we respond.


Q&A

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    As a potential visitor to Banff can someone provide me with details on disabled parking within this plan. Is there any additional provision for disabled parking spaces? Will parking costs for disabled visitors be the same as other users (despite disabled people of necessity needing longer to get about)?

    SairNuts asked 10 months ago


    The town has a number of accessible (disabled) parking stalls in town and is adding more, regardless of whether this proposed plan goes ahead. In the revised proposal, accessible parking is free for three hours.


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    Why did we close the free parking at the train station This seems counter productive to the whole process

    Geo asked 11 months ago

    The Town of Banff opened the Train Station Public Parking lot as a way to help alleviate parking problems in the town, which are experienced almost entirely in the summer. The lot was closed in the winter because tax-funded snow clearing is expensive, and the lot is not necessary in winter due to reduced parking pressures. However, we learned that when Banff & Lake Louise Tourism held the 2019 Santa Claus Parade, which occurred on the same day as the Christmas Market and a Christmas celebration at the Sulphur Mountain Gondola, there were enough vehicles in town to warrant opening the Train Station Parking lot in winter. We opened the lot for the 2019 Banff Centre Film & Book Festival, and required a bus shuttle service. We will open the lot for major events that fund snow clearing. 

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    Will the train station lot be open to commuters all year? Proposal implies that it will be but previous answer suggests it will only be open during certain special events during the winter.

    Ben asked 9 months ago


    The Train Station Parking lot was constructed by Liricon, which leases the land from CP Rail. They also lease the Train Station building. Last summer, the Town of Banff signed an agreement for the Town to operate the parking lot, as a way to help alleviate the parking challenges that Banff experiences in the summer months. Banff has a parking shortage in summer due to high visitation in June, July and August, but there are adequate parking spaces for visitors in the remaining months. The agreement between the Town and Liricon runs through 2020 with the opportunity to renew for future years.

    The Town plans to close the Train Station Parking Lot in winter because every time it snows, tax dollars are required to clear the snow and manage ice, at a time when the need for extra parking is not high. The Town will open the lot if there are large events elsewhere in town that take up parking spaces, if the event organizer provides funding for snow clearing. The Town will evaluate the decision to close the Train Station Public Parking lot in future years and negotiate with the owner the possibility of opening in winter months.