Number of parking tickets doubles in Whitehorse 2-hour zones

The City of Whitehorse issued more parking tickets than usual last week in two-hour parking zones asbylaw officers started using licence plate recognition software to help enforce timed parking zones.

Dave Pruden, manager of Bylaw Services, sayson averagethe city issues 10 to 15 tickets a day. On Monday, officers issued 35 tickets.

It's not going over well with people who work in the downtown core but bylaw officers say they haveto keep traffic moving and there are plenty of options available.

"We are trying to encourage people who are long-term parkers not to occupy the short-term parking areas," says Pruden.

"If they are looking for long-term parking then they should seek out longer-term parking areas or utilize other parking areas or seek out other forms of transportation such as car pooling, cycling, transit."

City officials say there is some good news asrevenue generated from parking tickets and meters helps keep other taxes down.

Prudenestimates the city made about half a million dollars last year in revenue from parking tickets.

"The more money that's brought in through fees and services does reduce the burden on the taxpayer," says Mayor Dan Curtis.

"So it's fees for services and of course the fines and things like this, they definitely go into the general revenue and it has a direct relation to how much we pay in taxes."

Curtis says the overall goal is to keep traffic moving through the day so people doing business, shopping or visiting town have a place to park.