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Wed, May 28, 2008


London commuters frustrated with parking downtown will soon have a new option.

The City of London and London Transit have joined forces to offer a $50 monthly park-and-ride pass.

Beginning June 1, Londoners will be able to park their vehicles at a municipal parking lot located north of Dundas Street and take a bus downtown.

“The city has a supply issue of long-term parking close to the core area,” said Larry Ducharme, general manager at the London Transit Commission.

Long term means parking a vehicle for eight hours, or the length of a work day.




Commuters can leave their car in one of the two parking lots with access from English Street, Elizabeth Street, Adelaide Street and Queens Avenue. They can then board a bus on Dundas Street between English and Ridout Streets on routes 2 Dundas, 7 Wavell and 20 Cherryhill anytime from Monday to Sunday.

A London business manager said the program should help the weekday parking crunch downtown.

“Anything that can alleviate the problem of parking downtown during the week is positive,” said Bob Usher, manager of the Covent Garden Market and London Downtown Business Association board member.

Participants will be issued a special parking and transit pass. They will be able to claim the federal tax credit for the bus pass portion of the expense.

The park and ride will be a pilot program for a few months to gauge interest. The pass will be continued if there is a good response, said city parking manager Shane Maguire.

The program was motivated by a 2006 city parking study that highlighted a need for more long-term parking downtown.

“A number of long-term parking spots in the downtown have been lost in the last year to construction and other development,” said Maguire.

The park-and-ride may have spin-off benefits for the surrounding Old East area. The manager of the Old East Village business improvement area said she will be watching the program with interest.

“It remains to be seen if the people parking their cars will come into the Old East commercial corridor,” said Sarah Merritt. “Anything that brings people into the area can only be of use to us.”