Montreal's new downtown parking hours still in limbo, creating confusion and backlash

About three weeks after the City of Montreal put the brakes on new parking hours for downtown following an outcry from surprised merchants, the new parking rules aren't any clearer.

Business owners are still confused by the idea to expand chargeable hours and are angry it might still happen saying it will only hurt economic development as they continue to rebuild in the wake of the pandemic.

"Montreal is a place where going downtown is a thing but it's definitely also been a trend that people staying in their neighbourhood bars is more popular because people don't want to drive downtown," said Allan Bruce of Crescent St. bar, Brutopia.

In mid-April paid parking hours on Crescent St. suddenly changed. Instead of having to plug the meter until 9 p.m., new stickers indicated drivers would have to pay for parking until 11 p.m., six nights a week, and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays.

Bruce sees the new fees as an added deterrent since people already have trouble finding a parking spot.

"Parking is very restricted and when I do hear that people park their cars they're often blocks away from here. Just looking for a place to park," said Bruce.

Not surprisingly since many more nighttime pints are sold than daytime pints after 9 p.m., he said if patrons have to pay the meters for additional time once they finally land a space, they might stay away altogether.

Bruce has an ally in city hall's opposition leader Aref Salem who said he understands why merchants are angry.

The parking change was buried in a city document presented in December, Salem said, and it was only noted 1,800 pages in.

The city paused the extended hours plan in April after it received negative feedback because it said some steps were skipped with the affixing of stickers. It acknowledged that adjustments and better communication were needed.

In a statement issued on Monday, the city said "we have met with our downtown partners over the last two weeks. We will adopt a new resolution at the next executive committee meeting."

In response, the opposition said it plans to table a motion to do away with the longer hours.

"People come to Montreal for the restaurants, the festivals, and now we're pushing back these people from Montreal. I don't know how we're going to work on economic development and make Montreal shine with these measures," said Salem.