Calgary cyclists concerned with Edworthy paid parking plan

Amir Said · CBC News

· Posted: May 01, 2025 5:46 PM EDT | Last Updated: 13 minutes ago

The City of Calgary's plan to renovate Edworthy Park's northbound parking lot and instrumentality paid parking to recoup the cost has near members of the cycling assemblage concerned.

Located successful northwest Calgary, Edworthy Park has agelong been a staple for cycling enthusiasts, and changes to the accessibility of parking determination could beryllium problematic, explained Doug Clark, president of cycling non-profit Bike Calgary.

"If they commencement charging for it, is that really the close happening to do? Is it going to promote radical to re-evaluate the mode they determination astir the metropolis and take much sustainable, much wide cost-effective ways of doing it?"

Clark, a predominant visitant to Edworthy Park, suggested that cyclists whitethorn beryllium dissuaded from parking astatine the batch oregon adjacent incorporating cycling into their docket if parking is nary longer free. 

Designated 'Park and Bike' site

The fashionable northbound Edworthy parking batch is 1 of the city's 7 designated Calgary Park and Bike sites. People commuting by some car and motorcycle are encouraged to parkland astatine 1 of the sites to debar fees for downtown parking portion getting workout and minimizing postulation congestion connected their mode downtown. The locations are 5 to 8 kilometres from the core.

"At slightest portion of that travel is simply a steadfast and a sustainable mode to determination astir the city. So surely I don't privation to bash thing that discourages that quality to connection those proscription choices," said Clark.

However, helium added, implementing paid parking astatine the Edworthy batch is an other outgo for cyclists that contradicts the city's intent for commuters to prevention connected paid parking downtown.

According to the city, the projected improvement includes resurfacing the pothole-ridden gravel batch on with installing designated parking spaces, amended drainage, caller lighting, EV chargers and a instrumentality to wage for parking, for an approximate outgo of $1 million.

"That's going to travel retired of taxpayers' pockets," said Clark. "Is that truly the champion mode to walk the money? Are we benignant of complicating the contented successful presumption of incentivizing the close benignant of proscription choices that radical instrumentality successful the city?"

Paid parking to recoup improvement costs

Terry Wong, councillor for Ward 7, said the metropolis archetypal began moving guardant connected the parking batch task aboriginal successful April owed successful portion to concerns brought up by spot owners.

"We're not doing this to dissuade radical from riding their bicycles," helium said. "We're doing this to make more, overmuch much functionality successful the park, successful the parking lot, for antithetic radical to usage it."

He noted that the Edworthy batch task is inactive successful the aboriginal stages of improvement and that Calgary Parking is exploring a fig of options, specified arsenic offering a fewer hours of escaped parking anterior to charging, offering a monthly complaint oregon having designated paid parking areas.

"Any parking infrastructure to enactment successful has to beryllium outgo recovered somehow, truthful that's wherever the paid parking comes in," said Wong.

Calgary nonmigratory Sara Mills, who regularly parks and bikes from the Edworthy batch connected her mode downtown, says she doesn't caput the parking batch not being paved. She would alternatively not person to wage for parking arsenic a effect of the planned development.

"I deliberation this is simply a truly large spot to person escaped parking and encourages radical to thrust their bikes and enactment progressive and commute to enactment successful alternate ways different than driving," said Mills. "Because I find that is precise common, driving successful Calgary, and it's not ace accessible successful the metropolis to thrust bikes successful a batch of ways. So I deliberation having this truly does promote that."

Construction could commencement by outpouring 2026, pending operation licence approval.

Parking fees volition not beryllium charged until construction has been completed, Calgary Parking said.