A necessary evil: parking costs

Like it or not, commuting is a way of life now. Most of us have to travel to get to work and a lot of us are using our vehicles to get there. (The 2006 Census found that in 72.3% of us drove to work, and 11% took public transit.)

But, plugging quarters into a parking meter may not cut it anymore, especially if you’re in many of the world’s city centres.

According to a Colliers International study of parking, monthly parking rates in Canada increased by $20.00, a robust 9.9 per cent over 2008 levels. The average daily parking rate in Canada rose 9.89 per cent over last year to $17.78 daily, with an average monthly parking rate of $222.75, up 9.94 per cent from 2008. This is in stark contrast to south of the border where average monthly prices fell just 0.9 per cent.

In Canada, the parking situation looks like this:

City                                                 Daily Median Rate      Monthly Unreserved Median Rate

1. Calgary, AB                           $22.00                         $453.38
2. Edmonton, AB                      $14.00                         $275.00
3. Halifax, NS                           $14.00                         $158.20
4. Kitchener-Waterloo, ON    $10.00                         $116.94
5. Montreal, QC                        $17.00                         $280.62
6. Ottawa, ON                           $18.00                         $160.00
7. Regina, SK                             $10.00                         $162.75
8. Saskatoon, SK                        $9.50                         $167.00
9. Toronto, ON                          $23.00                         $336.25
10. Vancouver, BC                      $18.50                         $266.81
11. Victoria, BC                           $11.00                         $180.00
12. Winnipeg, MB                       $9.00                         $152.25

National average                              $15.04                         $222.75

Are you happy with your parking options? Do you have a free spot at work or do you have to pay to leave your car? How bad is it … really? While you leave comments in the area below, check out what people around the world are paying:

Internationally:

Top monthly unreserved parking rates – Median (US$)

1. London – City – 932.99
2. London – West End – 873.50
3. Hong Kong – 744.72
4. Tokyo – 654.00
5. Rome – 615.00
6. Zurich – 605.64
7. Sydney – 591.28
8. Perth – 563.37
9. Brussels – 549.94
10. New York City – Midtown – 538.00
11. New York City – Downtown – 529.00
12. Copenhagen – 516.88

Top daily parking rates – Median (US$)

1. Abu Dhabi – 55.00
2. Oslo – 54.52
3. Tokyo – 54.50
4. London – City – 52.24
5. Sydney – 51.18
6. London – West End – 50.79
7. Amsterdam – 49.21
8. Vienna – 48.10
9. Athens – 46.14
10. Copenhagen – 41.68
11. Stockholm – 40.96
12. New York – Midtown – 40.00

-Julie.