City Offering Free Parking In City Hall Car Park

August 26, 2016

The City of Hamilton is opening the gates to City Hall Car Park this weekend and motorists can park for free.

A spokesperson said, “A new paid barrier system went into operation on Monday this week and while mostly successful, there has been some teething pains with credit card payments functioning intermittently. City staff has been on hand each day to process card payments manually using a portable payment device, as needed.

“The City is aware of this inconvenience to motorists and is opening the gates for FREE parking tomorrow as a THANK YOU to the public for their patience.”

City of Hamilton COO and Secretary Ed Benevides said; “It’s not unusual for a large new system implementation such as this to have teething problems. We appreciate the public’s patience and are offering free parking all weekend, from 6.00 am tomorrow morning, Saturday August 27th.”

The spokesperson said, “The newly implemented paid barrier system that went into effect on Monday has for the most part worked smoothly and the real benefit that motorists have noticed is that they can find a space to park short-term in the centre of the city.

“The system was implemented to discourage people from parking all day in the short term parking zone, and according to city engineers that has worked. It is the City’s hope that motorists will honor the 3-hour limit during the FREE parking period tomorrow and allow opportunity for other shoppers to park in the car park.

“City of Hamilton Senior Engineer Ian Hind also wishes to thank the two city employees, Fredrick Richardson and Andrew Baptiste who have attended the car park manually every day this week, tirelessly in the heat and heavy rains, assisting motorists through the system in this introductory period.

“The technical issues with the payment processing is being worked on and it is anticipated to be fully functioning by Monday. The paid barrier system at $2.00 per hour will take effect again on Monday morning from 6.00 am.”

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Comments (31)

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  1. Tired of the Negative says:

    Translation – - “Since we implemented our new system, nobody is parking in our lot. The business owners in Hamilton are angry and demand that we do something. So we think if we offer free parking over the weekend, then we can get those stupid owners off our backs and fool the public into believing that we care – that’s it!”

  2. Rica says:

    This is much appreciated. I do however have one question that I believe has yet to be answered. Is payment still expected after 6pm with these new arms on Monday through Saturday or is this now paid parking 24/7 with a 3 hour maximum?

    • Say Whaat? says:

      The sign says billing hours are Monday – Saturday 08:00 – 18:00. Don’t know if it’s working properly though.

    • Boo boo snugglepuff says:

      Parked there after 6pm. When you go to the pay booth it doesn’t ask for money but validates your ticket. So it’s free after 6pm.

  3. Georgio says:

    Seems like the people have spoken the city has taken a lost on the city hall car park. Great job the People

    • scoob says:

      The only people that will be put off parking there now are people that were previously breaking the rules and either overstaying the 3 hour limit or not paying at all.

      This is good for the city which was previously desperately lacking centrally located short term parking

  4. Wow says:

    Lmao what a bunch of clowns.

  5. Winton Hill says:

    How about left hand drive cars?

  6. Legalgal says:

    What an expensive joke. Had a perfectly workable system which you jsut had to implement. The wasted cost, time and now embarrassment.

    • Terry says:

      Well someone had to make money.
      Who paid for the instalment/s and tech.
      Oh well…..

      • Legalgal says:

        Yes, I guess contracts and construction made money on it. Shame. Had hoped new Mayor would be more competent.

  7. JUNK YARD DOG says:

    Here is a lesson in Social Economics.

    Just give me one reason why we should pay for parking to come to the city get my vehicle banged up in the bargain that’s $900.oo right there on top of high prices to business owners, who are caught up in their own vicious circle.

    After all the Corporation gets a “Warfage” percentage on merchandise and then charges high parking rates you to go buy it, may be parking should be free to encourage trade.

    The Corporation of Hamilton also collects Land tax on city properties, another double dip tax.

    Now you know why People go else where, I guess you now know why people Fly to Atlanta to do their shopping.
    Tourists don’t shop in Hamilton any more they can buy the same old, in a strip mall,hey! not unless they need a Bermuda “T” shirt.

    Bermuda is too expensive, that is what they tell their friends back home,

    Y’all got to smarten up.

    • Transport Minister says:

      And you pay to park in Atlanta too! Stupid is stupid!

      • ImJustSayin says:

        Not at the Mall. So who is stupid?

        • just wondering says:

          and that Car Park is on property owned by the Mall itself to which those shops pay rent – so if you want free parking on city property then the analogy is then to charge the Hamilton business more rates you can park for free – do you think that will be popular? no of course not! Parking in the city of Hamilton should be like parking in any other city in the world – if you want to park in the city center you have to pay for it – its not unreasonable

  8. Smith says:

    So for all the people that have a $81 dollar charge, they can leave their cars in the car park until the weekend and get a “get out of jail” free card. #justsayin

  9. Common Sense says:

    “It’s a great white elephant”. This was a typical comment when Bulls Head Car Park first opened, and for the first six weeks it was reported to be empty. Then smart ladies started wearing sneakers and walking to work from Bulls Head. Let’s give it at least 6 weeks before passing judgement on this new system. One thing for sure, if you drive into Hamilton and want to park in the City centre to go shopping or for business you are guaranteed a parking space in City Hall Car Park.

  10. L says:

    Would have been nice if I’d been offered free parking on Thursday when I tried to pay by credit card and it wouldn’t work so I had to go to someone to do it manually – 3 young kids and raining. I suggested that I should be offered free parking …. He said “I do t have the authority to do that”. I asked who Was I charge and who did need to complain to. He said “me”. Ho hum. They should not have rolled this out until it was working properly. Cost $6 to go to see a movie with the kids – that’s fine, I’m not questioning the cost, I parked there because it was close to the movie and raining with 3 kids in tow.

    • Watcher says:

      Your last sentence says it all. Chances of you finding a spot to park in prior to this new system would have been slim to none, as it was being used as an all day parking lot in spite of it being a 3 hour max lot for many years. There have been signs indicating this and yet people say they didn’t know. Now that the new system is enforcing this, meaning if you over stay then you pay for that violation right away, people are making a lot of noise. People have been abusing the system for years, with many not paying at all and now that you can no longer get away with it, it’s a problem.

  11. Mature says:

    What youall dont understand is it wasnever an all day parking lot anyway it was always a maximum of 3 hours parking that hasnt changed So if you dont want to pay the $81 fine which replaces the parking ticket dont stay there over 3hrs like you should have been doing all this time you all complain and never look at the whole picture

  12. mmm says:

    The Corporation workers who explained the system to motorists should be seconded to the Civil Department of Aviation and Customs Department, for being courteous, prompt and efficient.

  13. Jonathan Land Evans says:

    Presumably it isn’t so much a thank-you to motorists as an unwillingness to pay overtime to the staff who would have to be there manually processing credit-card payments…

  14. John says:

    Well hit the dislike button but I think it’s great. I can now find a space without driving around for 30 mins when I need to do something quick in town

  15. ImJustSayin says:

    No matter how you sugar coat it. The city of Hamilton is not user friendly to shoppers. It will only increase online shopping. The people have spoken.

    • scoob says:

      But this is making the city more user friendly. You can now drive into Hamilton and easily find a parking space a short distance from the shops.

      If you are complaining that you now have to pay for parking and were previously parking there for free, then you were part of the reason that this had to be implemented.

  16. Y-Gurl says:

    In other words the system doesn’t work, great job yet again C of H