OTTAWA -- The City of Ottawa says parking fee revenue was down more than $8 million in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a report prepared for the city's transportation committee, staff say there was a significant drop in demand for both on-street and off-street parking through much of 2020 as people stayed home.
"Overall, Parking Services received $8.2 million less in parking fee revenue in 2020 compared to 2019," the report states, adding that on-street parking fell by 43 per cent and off-street parking fell by 53 per cent.
Fees at city parking meters and garages brought in $8.93 million in 2020, compared to $17.1 million in 2019.
The city received $7.92 million from the provincial government to offset the impact of the pandemic on parking services.
The City of Ottawa manages 6,576 paid parking spaces, including 3,806 on-street spaces and 2,770 off-street spaces.
The city lost 38 parking spaces in 2020 compared to 2019, mostly due to Elgin Street development, which accounted for 31 fewer spaces. The rest were due to various minor adjustments and revised space counts.
The loss of parking fare revenue is another example of budgetary pressures facing the City of Ottawa. The 2021 budget includes a projected $153 million deficit if the pandemic continues to impact city operations for the whole year. In addition to parking revenue losses, the city is also facing a major budgetary crunch from lower OC Transpo ridership along with increased costs related to the pandemic.
With fewer people parking, the city also issued fewer parking tickets in 2020. Statistics provided to CTVNewsOttawa.ca earlier this year showed 249,721 tickets were handed out for parking violations in 2020, down from 362,753 tickets in 2019.
The transportation committee meets June 2.
