Parking in Waterloo Region

[MidTowner]

You should watch the marketplace news clip for the reasons why this cap is in place. There are some hospitals that seem to take advantage of sick families to maximize their income, including sadly SickKids in Toronto.

I don't see why some hospitals' practices should lead to a restriction on all hospitals; the hospitals who might have been trying to keep parking fees under control will now be penalized by having their rates frozen. I can see the sense of offering passes for people who want to visit often, but arbitrarily freezing all hospital parking rates at the level they happen to be at today doesn't seem very logical.

In any case, we know what happens when parking is priced too low: it gets oversubscribed, and is less available. At some of these urban hospitals with the highest rates, if they're artificially held to a lower level, the lots will fill up and you'll wind up with a Marketplace episode about how those terrible hospitals are failing to build new parking and people have to walk through the snow because they can only find spots blocks away.