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Parking at Kelowna General Hospital is back in the spotlight after one user says he paid for parking, but was unable to find a spot.
Wesley Nygaard wrote to Interior Health to complain about the parking situation at KGH.
"Is there a plan to correct the significant shortage of parking at Kelowna General Hospital? I saw dozens of people unsuccessfully looking for parking," his letter states.
Nygaard paid for 24 hours of parking at the hospital, had to leave, but upon return was unable to find a space.
"I was quite irritated to return to the hospital to find no parking available after paying for 24 hours.... The situation results in an excess amount of time, gas (money), and carbon dioxide emissions with people circling around looking for parking or moving their vehicles every hour or two instead of spending time with their families."
Surrey recently took a step toward eliminating pay street parking near Surrey Memorial Hospital.
IH spokesperson Craig Paynton said: "We recognize the parking areas at Kelowna General Hospital can be busy at times, particularly during the day Monday to Friday, and we are in the process of installing a new stall counter in the main visitor parking lot (off Rose Avenue), which will give people an indication of parking availability."
Paynton says there is generally parking available in the Walter Anderson Building parking lot (off Royal Avenue), where there is a higher rate of turnover.
Nygaard's response: "I thought the reason the hospital had to charge for parking was to be able to provide sufficient parking. I am now unsure what it is I'm paying for because I did not receive the parking for which I paid."
Paynton says parking rates take into account costs of operating and maintainance as well as local market rates. "We want to ensure the rate isn’t too low that it encourages non-healthcare users to park in our facilities, or too high, where it may push our clients to park on the surrounding streets."
Paynton says free public parking at hospitals creates the risk of people taking up patient and visitor stalls when they don't have business at the hospital.
