Chris Nicolas carries a flip telephone and minimize up his bank cards years in the past. He carries money, however ever since parking funds have been outsourced to Indigo, he has no strategy to pay.
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Chris Nicolas calls the Black Rapids Lock Station on the Rideau Canal certainly one of Parks Canada’s “jewels.”
Nicolas, 79, used to go to twice every week to stroll and fish from the dock.
However now he says he can’t go to in any respect. He has no strategy to pay the $2 parking charge since Parks Canada ditched its previous machines that accepted cash in favour of a pay-by-phone app by international parking large Indigo.
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“It says ‘Pay Right here’, however there’s nothing on the pole however the signal,” stated Nicolas.
“It says you may take an image of a QR code or you may pay with the Indigo app. Effectively, I don’t have a bank card. I don’t have a smartphone. What am I speculated to do?”
Parks Canada fees for parking at 5 of the 23 lock stations it operates alongside the Rideau Canal: Black Rapids, Hartwells, Hogs Again, Edmonds, and Lengthy Island. The previous machines have been changed within the final 12 months.
“Parks Canada’s determination to maneuver parking charges administration to the Indigo answer was comprised of necessity, given the presence of outdated parking machines at its websites within the Ottawa area,” the company stated in an emailed assertion.
“The Indigo parking answer is probably the most cost-effective means for Parks Canada to gather parking charges, whereas minimizing the expense to Canadian taxpayers, as parking machines are liable to vandalism in these areas and are more and more costly to restore.”
Nicolas isn’t shopping for it. He says the coverage restricts who can use the park and the app forces customers to show over private info to a global firm that may promote it to advertisers.
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“They’ve to supply us a money possibility. This can be a nationwide park. It belongs to all of us,” he stated.
“In the event you went to park at metropolis corridor and so they wouldn’t allow you to pay in money however pressured you to show over your knowledge to an organization that’s based mostly within the European Union and out of doors Canada’s management, I’m certain they’d hear about it.”
Nicolas, who now walks with a cane and carries supplemental oxygen for his COPD, says he used to stroll a 10-mile trapline close to Nice Slave Lake within the Northwest Territories. After getting a level in neighborhood growth, he labored to determine social companies with numerous First Nations throughout Canada, from the Maritimes to Haida Gwaii to the Arctic.
He’s lived in Ottawa since 1997. He carries a flip telephone he’s had since 2002 and minimize up all his bank cards a decade in the past when a failed enterprise left him with a six-figure debt.
“I don’t need something to do with them. I don’t wish to be tempted. It took me years to pay that off,” he stated.
As he walks the grounds of Black Rapids he banters with Parks workers and factors out the favorite spots he used to fish from.
“I was right here twice every week till my well being began to get just a little worse a few years in the past. Then as soon as a month obtained whittled down to only twice a 12 months.
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“After I visited right here in August, I finished at Timmies and made certain I had a handful of toonies to pay, however there was no machine.”
Parking at Black Rapids prices $2 for one hour, or $8 for the four-hour most. The signal has two QR codes, one to obtain the Indigo app and a second for “Flash’N’Go” direct funds.
The lot is patrolled by Metropolis of Ottawa bylaw officers. Town has its personal settlement with Indigo, deputizing the corporate’s staff to subject metropolis tickets in personal heaps.
“The parking zone at Black Rapids Lock Station doesn’t fall below this settlement as it’s positioned on federal property. As such, handwritten federal parking tickets are to be issued below the Authorities Property Site visitors Laws Act,” Roger Chapman, Director, By-law and Regulatory Companies, stated in an emailed assertion.
A federal parking ticket prices $25, $50 for parking illegally in a disabled parking spot.
(Nicolas says he obtained a ticket at Black Rapids final August and is adamant that it was a Metropolis of Ottawa ticket and value him $75.)
Town confirmed that each one its parking machines settle for cash. The Nationwide Capital Fee additionally accepts money in any respect its machines.
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Paris-based Indigo Group operates parking heaps in additional than 500 cities in 9 international locations. A request for remark from Staff Indigo Parking Canada went unanswered.
Parks Canada says you don’t want a smartphone to make use of the positioning, however you’d nonetheless want a bank card.
“Parks Canada endeavours to create inclusive areas the place guests with quite a lot of views, experiences, and backgrounds really feel a way of belonging,” the company stated. “Whereas the Indigo parking answer does require the customer to have a data-enabled telephone to entry the appliance on the positioning, if customers shouldn’t have a knowledge plan there may be the choice to pre-book and pay with a bank card utilizing a pc by way of the Indigo web site.”
In keeping with Statistics Canada, some 87 per cent of Canadians personal a smartphone, however that determine drops to 54 per cent amongst seniors 65 and older.
Nicolas receives $1,600 a month in CPP and OAS funds and pays $1,250 in hire. He has no cash for parking tickets, not to mention a flowery cellphone.
“Being pressured to spend tons of of {dollars} on a smartphone and learn to use it isn’t one thing that Parks Canada must be forcing me to do,” he stated.
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