Province removes parking fees at BC Parks

[squamish climber]

This is pleasant news. Parking fees at BC Parks are gone.

Here is part of the news story from cbc.ca/bc
Parking will now be free in provincial parks, B.C. Premier Christy Clark announced on Tuesday, as part of the 100th anniversary celebration of the provincial park system.

"The parking meters are coming out and parking will be free, effective immediately, so that British Columbia's parks are even more welcoming for families," said Clark in a statement.

See the rest of the story here

This means no more $3 fee for climbing at Murrin or Shannon Falls.
Will this make a difference where you climb?

[BK]

who the hell ever paid anyway?

[BK]

Let me provide a little context. First of all, BC parks never had a legitimate means of enforcing parking fees. The only ones who had authority to issue tickets were BC park Rangers who have over the past decade or so practically gone extinct and the few remaining survivors have better things to do. I, like many others have refused to pay in protest of the pay to use policy which has proven to be nothing but a means to decrease public use of BC Parks anyway.

This year is the 100 year aniversary of the creation of BC Parks which even only 20 or so years ago was a thriving public resource well managed by the Ministry. Since then there has been a constant errosion of funding - classic starve the beast policy for the purpose of.... what exactly? Were not enough people visiting the new and burgeoning slot machine industry? Who knows. Christy Clarke's limp wristed removal of parking fee's does nothing but seek to gain political points with the MEC crowd. If she really gave a damn she'd restore Park funding but that wouldn't go over too well with the Fraser Institute.

Just thought you may like to know. Back to more important stuff like barley staples.

[scrubber]

Thats great! Hopefully that doesn't remove the tiny amount of funds that BC Parks currently gets by on. Since a well funded parks system is a thing we can only tell our kids about now, I would rather pay a bit to use the park than have overflowing garbage cans, filthy washroom facilities with no TP, and an absence of Rangers to help stewart the park. Time will tell where these funds will now come from.

On a related note, I just bought my $25 annual pass on Monday! So do I go ask for it back now?

Kris

[BlahMatt]

Hopefully that doesn't remove the tiny amount of funds that BC Parks currently gets by on.

*note, this is just what I heard on the radio this morning*: The parking revenue from BC parks was about 1 million annually. This loss of revenue will not be removed from the BC parks budget.

Of course, that leads to the question, where is that extra million coming from?

[c-plus]

On a related note, I just bought my $25 annual pass on Monday! So do I go ask for it back now?

Kris

There's a form here: http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/fees/parking.html to apply to get your money back.

[J Mace]

Of course, that leads to the question, where is that extra million coming from?

from the 2million they used to pay the collectors and parking machine companies

[justme]

yup, some more jobs down the drain...

[psi4ce]

I don't know exactly what this means, but on page A29 of Friday's Squamish Chief newspaper (May 6, 2011) there is an ad placed by the province of BC which reads as follows:

Notice of Intention to Issue a Park Use Permit

As per Section 20 of the Park Act this advertisement serves as notice that the Ministry of Environment (PC Parks) is considering issuing park use permits for the following purposes.

Name of Park: Tantalus Park, Stawamus Chief Park, Murrin Park, Shannon Falls Park, Alice Lake Park

Activity: Climbing and Mountaineering, Hiking

I'm guessing a "Park Use Permit" is more for commercial operations such as guiding and film production than for straight-up day use by members of the general public such as, well, climbers and boulderers.

At least, that's what the following BC Parks web page seems to imply: http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/permits/

Still, it is somewhat curious that the ad specifically states the activities climbing, mountaineering, and hiking...

[BK]

Likely someones annual guiding permit aplication. Maybe its the ACMG blanket membership permit.
Give parks a call and they'll likely tell you whats up