Accessible Parking Placard

The City is exploring a new automated system for bylaw enforcement that will provide more efficient services.

Important changes are coming for Parking Placard holders.

Currently, parking patrol officers manually write parking tickets for those who haven’t paid for parking. The City of Edmonton is looking at automating this process in EPark zones using a digital camera system that captures licence plate images to validate if a vehicle’s parking is paid. Under the new system, parking tickets would be mailed, rather than left on a vehicle’s windshield.

How It Affects Parking Placard Holders
The new automated system presently is not designed to ‘read’ any parking placards, including Parking Placards for People with Disabilities. This would have made courtesy parking impossible to provide for placard holders in on-street EPark zones.

Therefore the City of Edmonton is postponing the start of automated parking enforcement until more consultation with people affected by changes to courtesy parking has been done. This process will include identifying and creating more designated on-street accessible stalls, and exploring technology options that enable placard holders to continue using EPark zones free of charge.

In the meantime, accessible placard holders can continue to park in on-street EPark zones free of charge for up to two hours. Payment will still be required for parking in all off-street EPark zones and parkades. The City will also continue to offer free parking at designated on-street accessible stalls located downtown, in Old Strathcona and in business areas.

Why Automated Enforcement?
Automated enforcement parking technology is a more efficient way of dealing with parking violations and will improve our ability to respond to citizen complaints and parking enforcement services around Commonwealth Stadium events, Rogers Place and in residential communities surrounding festivals. It will also free up parking officers to deal with other important parking issues in the city such as around school drop-off and pick-up zones, in front of businesses, at accessible parking spaces, in residential areas, during rush hour tow-away times and during seasonal snow parking bans.