Parking in Waterloo Region

[MidTowner]

We are already there. The first n spots are free, overflow above that ends up in the various paid lots around the market. So no, there is no need to change the basic price structure, particularly considering the slow down in entry and exit from the already slow to enter parking lot.

I'm no expert, but how much does a pay system slow entry into a parking lot? An automated system spits out a parking ticket pretty quickly, doesn't it? Also, the flow of the lot is currently being impeded by the motorists that you say are entering it to find it full to exit it to seek parking elsewhere.

Re: asking merchants to pay for parking. They will seek that cost from their customers. The effect will be a subsidy by market patrons who do not park to market patrons who do park. This is obviously common in retail like you say, but it's even less savoury when it's a publically-owned outfit facilitating the subsidy.