People who parked in The Waterfront Vancouver’s new parking garage to see the Christmas Ships Parade on Thursday night are outraged after a backup left some stuck for more than an hour.
Managers and the garage’s development company have apologized for the jam and said the gate should have been opened and parking fees waived to clear the lot.
“I think this is a learning experience for our team,” said Jose Berganza, regional manager for the garage’s management company, ProPark.
The eight-story parking garage with 829 parking stalls opened in August, replacing the outdoor parking lots, which are now for sale as commercial real estate.
Berganza said the backup was due to hundreds of people leaving after watching the parade of lighted ships go by and a small number of new staffers managing the dilemma.
People can pay before or as they exit, but paying at the exit takes longer, Berganza said. Many people, in this case, paid at the exit, causing a slow-down, Berganza said.
“We basically had 600 parkers trying to leave all at once. It’s going to cause a backup regardless,” he said.
He said the company plans to improve staff response to backups, as well as add more signs about paying before leaving.
However, motorists insist the gate was broken on Thursday. One Facebook post claiming the gate was the issue garnered 500 reactions.
“I was stuck in one spot for two hours,” said Katherine May, who took her 2- and 4-year-old children 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 children to take them home. She entered the parking lot’s sixth floor about 8:30 p.m., paying at a machine before she left, and didn’t leave until 10:15 p.m., she said.
Several people around her asked staff by the gate about the holdup and reported back to drivers that the gate was stuck shut, May said.
When May finally reached the exit, the screen told her she needed to pay extra because she hadn’t left the parking within 10 minutes of paying for parking at the machine, she said.
She refused to pay the charge, May said, and an employee let her go. Others didn’t seem to fight the additional fee, she said. She’s reached out to ProPark for a refund several times but hasn’t heard back.
“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 said.
Barry Cain, president of the garage’s development company, Gramor Development, said the motorists should not have been charged a late fee due to the backup.
“That’s too bad. That shouldn’t have happened,” Cain said. “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.”
