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By Liam Verster
Improving Customer Service

Changes proposed for sales of city parking passes

Nov 6, 2023 | 5:00 AM

The City of Vernon is considering changing how it sells parking passes in order to improve customer service.

Historically, monthly parking passes for the upcoming year have been made available for purchase in-person only on the first business day of December.

City Hall opens at 8:30 a.m., and a report to Vernon city council said on December 2, 2022, there was a line of people waiting to buy their passes in the early hours of that morning.

“While the most popular locations sell out within the first few transactions, passes in downtown lots remain available for purchase throughout the year,” the report stated.

“One hundred and twenty-seven of the 130 purchases on December 2, 2022 were for full- year parking passes, sold in pre-organized bundles of 12 months of passes.”

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It was noted that there were other factors with that process that lead to increased customer wait times, including:

  • One customer purchasing passes on behalf of multiple parties
  • Requests to purchase passes for less than a full year
  • Customers intending to return parking passes or exchange them at a later date.

The report recommends modifying the process by:

  • Implementing no refunds or exchanges on monthly parking pass changes, effective December 1, 2023
  • Implementing a staggered start for the sale of 2024 passes
    • Open the sale of 2024 full year parking passes only on Friday, Dec. 1
    • Open the sale of monthly parking passes for 2024 on Monday, Dec 4
  • Providing one receipt per customer per transaction, even if purchasing multiple annual passes.

The report noted these changes would not result in any additional cost or work volume.

It was also recommended that staff be directed to investigate online purchase and payment options in 2024, and options to work with third party vendors or potential online solutions in future years to address long term issues.

Vernon council will receive the report at the regular meeting Monday, Nov. 6, and it’s recommended that the aforementioned changes be implemented.

by Liam Verster
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