Individuals who parked in The Waterfront Vancouver’s new parking storage to see the Christmas Ships Parade on Thursday night time are outraged after a backup left some caught for greater than an hour.
Managers and the storage’s growth firm have apologized for the jam and mentioned the gate ought to have been opened and parking charges waived to clear the lot.
“I think this is a learning experience for our team,” mentioned Jose Berganza, regional supervisor for the storage’s administration firm, ProPark.
The eight-story parking storage with 829 parking stalls opened in August, changing the outside parking heaps, which at the moment are on the market as industrial actual property.
Berganza mentioned the backup was as a consequence of tons of of individuals leaving after watching the parade of lighted ships go by and a small variety of new staffers managing the dilemma.
Individuals pays earlier than or as they exit, however paying on the exit takes longer, Berganza mentioned. Many individuals, on this case, paid on the exit, inflicting a slow-down, Berganza mentioned.
“We basically had 600 parkers trying to leave all at once. It’s going to cause a backup regardless,” he mentioned.
He mentioned the corporate plans to enhance workers response to backups, in addition to add extra indicators about paying earlier than leaving.
Nonetheless, motorists insist the gate was damaged on Thursday. One Fb put up claiming the gate was the difficulty garnered 500 reactions.
“I was stuck in one spot for two hours,” mentioned Katherine Could, who took her 2- and 4-year-old kids to see the Christmas Ships Parade. “There’s no way it was a slowdown. … We would have at least moved an inch.”
Her husband picked up the youngsters to take them residence. She entered the car parking zone’s sixth ground about 8:30 p.m., paying at a machine earlier than she left, and didn’t depart till 10:15 p.m., she mentioned.
A number of individuals round her requested workers by the gate concerning the holdup and reported again to drivers that the gate was caught shut, Could mentioned.
When Could lastly reached the exit, the display advised her she wanted to pay further as a result of she hadn’t left the parking inside 10 minutes of paying for parking on the machine, she mentioned.
She refused to pay the cost, Could mentioned, and an worker let her go. Others didn’t appear to battle the extra payment, she mentioned. She’s reached out to ProPark for a refund a number of instances however hasn’t heard again.
“If last night was normal traffic and not a malfunction, there’s zero chance of ever getting out of there in 10 (minutes) when it’s at full capacity,” she mentioned.
Barry Cain, president of the storage’s growth firm, Gramor Improvement, mentioned the motorists shouldn’t have been charged a late payment as a result of backup.
“That’s too bad. That shouldn’t have happened,” Cain mentioned. “I’m not sure how to make it up to them. … I guess they can tell us, and we can make it up to them.”