The Toronto Parking Authority (TPA) is hoping a discount on pet supplies or a 2-for-1 pizza deal will help take some of the sting out of the $3.50 per hour parking rate at a pair of lots in the city’s Liberty Village neighbourhood.
The organization recently unveiled a pilot program enabling people using the organization’s Green P Mobile Pay app to receive a coupon from one of 18 nearby businesses.
Participating businesses include Metro, Home Hardware, Kitchen Stuff Plus and Global Pet Foods, as well as independent businesses.
Users must first opt-in to receive the coupons from area businesses. When they pay for parking at one of two participating lots – 1155 King St. West and 34 Hanna Ave. – they will receive a text message containing a link to a mobile coupon that can be redeemed at participating business.
TPA president Lorne Persiko said in a release the program was the latest example of the organization’s ongoing support of the city’s Business Improvement Areas.
The pilot program is being conducted in partnership with mobile solutions provider MobileXCo, with a view to expanding it across the city in 2017. The TPA currently operates 160 municipal parking lots containing approximately 20,000 spaces, including 140 surface lots and 20 parking garages.
The TPA has been offering coupons on the back of paper parking slips for its approximately 17,500 on-street parking spaces for more than a decade.
In its most recent annual report, the TPA said parking revenue declined $1.3 million to $128.8 million in 2014, which it attributed to a drop in on-street revenue. (Off-street parking revenue of $79.7 million was consistent with previous years).
