Since parking fees were removed from the QEH last year, there have been noticeable changes in (over?) usage of the lot. Before, you could usually find a spot without too much trouble. Of course, everyone wants to park as close to the hospital entrance as possible. But now, especially with the onset of colder weather, you’re lucky to even find a place on the far corners of the lot. This suggests three possibilities: 1) that more people are using the lot every day; 2) that visitors are staying longer; and 3) that some may be using it as an all-day car pooling lot. We’re pretty lucky here when it comes to such things compared to other larger centres. Parking fees at the QE11 in Halifax, for example, start at $3 an hour with a daily maximum of $14.50. As the saying goes, “there’s no free lunch” - we pay for so called free parking in one way or another. It may not be administratively feasible to reinstate parking fees, but if it is under consideration (the ticket booth is still there) perhaps some accommodation could be made for frequent visitors, etc. No doubt hospital management is monitoring the situation closely to see if changes to the parking policy are warranted.
David MacCallum,
Charlottetown
