I had to get my car registered for zone parking. The man I dealt with was very polite, efficient, and professional. I was in and out in under 10 minutes. I think that Calgary Parking Authority gets a bad rep, but they're doing their best and I had a very positive experience.
Received a ticket in the mail for a parking in a lot I knew I paid for. When I called we figured out I had entered the wrong license plate (totally my fault). The matter was dealt with super quickly and the ticket was cancelled.
Calgary Parking Authority gave me a parking ticket for having a faded month sticker on my licence plate even though the year sticker was clearly visible and registered till 2018. Is this a parking offence? Is the offence
within your jurisdiction?
Park my car in front of my house for a year get nothing, and then get a parking ticket a day before my birthday
Got ticketed for parking in a 2 hour free parking zone for under the duration of 2 hours. Not impressed with that behaviour, and can only imagine what tourists think about our city.
Can you please fix your web site to deal with claims and tickets online. Other people also work same hours as you and not able to come to your office in person. The dispatch that I talk today morning at 8 am was telling me instructions to go on web site and follow the steps for ticket appeal. Since then I am trying to open it and it always come to 404 Error...
This is not an this is not an institution, it's a business. Every year the parking gets tougher and more expensive. I come from Sao Paulo Brazil an even there the parking is not as expensive as here. It's a shame to know that for every place you go here you need to pay for parking and it is so expensive! Shame!
Got a ticket because my car was just a nose beyond the parking station (paid station) on 10th ave SW. These guys are parasites.
The app is brutal - never works, freezes, reloads, charged me twice one time and the website is no better. not user friendly whatsoever.
This is the last straw! Unbelievable how sad this parking authority is. Being put on hold 3 times once for over 15min and to be told nothing can be done.
A few years back had my vehicle towed minutes after our time expired. My child and I were left down town stranded and no jackets as they were in the car.
It should be mandatory that they at least inform you it was towed. We thought we were robed. And if there are car seats in the vehicle have a heart make sure they are informed and safe
City of Calgary parking authority. Cashiers for paying your tickets or disputing them. The choice is clear .25 cents in the meter or 40 dollar ticket in the mail
Street sweeping policy is the biggest joke ever! So the city is required to put up signs "at least" 12 hours before enforcement takes place which happens the next morning anywhere from 6 - 8 am on my street. So if your putting signs up after dinner time in the evening who's going to see these signs before its too late in the morning!?! Where they are putting these signs is a mystery as well because for 2 years in a row I've been ticketed on my street and never saw one sign on my street. Absolute joke! Lazy city workers doing the least amount of work possible as usual on my Tax Dollar. Signs should be put up the day before saying street sweeping will commence the following day or give 24 hr notice at least.
Sat here waiting and waiting and waiting complete organized chaos these people have no clue if I could rate ZERO I would. And please hire people with a better command of the English language. This operation needs closing down and re modelling. Utter Garbage
This is a totally corrupt and heartless organization!!! I wish I can give negative stars!!!
If I could give -1 star I would! These inconsiderate people have nothing better to do. They constantly give out incorrect tickets to people that pay for parking and dont even send out notices until it has been to late. You would think if employees are constantly incorrectly issuing tickets that they would take some repercussions and reassess the situation but nope! Jaspreet Singh for example, I have gotten 20+ tickets in the last 3 months for the same wrong offence every day almost! You would think they get a bonus for issuing the most tickets... long story short if you see these low lives, run.I have even appealed my tickets like they advise to below and nope they ask me to appear in court for their error.
They are crooks. They place signs behind snow piles. Behind trees and issue extremely high ticket prices with no appeal process and very short timeline to pay. They are a terrible company and it s ridiculous the city of Calgary stands proudly behind them.
Sadly I have to say I am also very disappointed with CPA. They seem inflexible and while I appreciate an appeal system it seems to generate an automatic NO. The majority of these reviews are negative which is unfortunate as CPA is here to serve the citizens of Calgary, who, by the sounds of these reviews are generally very displeased.
I dislike getting a ticket like everyone else, however, If I learned how to read signs properly I wouldn't be in this predicament...I just don't understand the $3 processing fee for paying the ticket online?
Calgary Parking Authority has wasted over a month of my time not resolving my parking situation. This department is a disgrace and unfair to tax paying property owners. They have made it impossible for me or a visitor to park near my own house.
I recently had a really bad experience with the CPA. I was ticketed while parked legally in a designated visitor parking spot. I appealed the ticket but CPA refused to admit the ticket was issued incorrectly, at least in their emails. Upon calling CPA, they admitted my car was parked legally but still refused to cancel ticket as some one from the building management/ committee had called to complain about my car and the only way to cancel the ticket was if the property management contacted CPA directly and requested to cancel the ticket. In short I went back and forth with CPA and the respective property management for 2 weeks trying to get a parking ticket cancelled. My opinion:
1) The CPA dispatch officer in this case didn't have enough judgment to see that my car was parked legally and not to issue a ticket/parking tag.
2) CPA has an inefficient appeal system as they refused to cancel an incorrect ticket on their own and made me run back and forth to get a ticket cancelled that they issued incorrectly in the first place.
Called in to report an illegally parked city trailer that's been sitting outside my house for the past week, and was told that the parking laws don't effect government vehicles. So even though there's no reason for this trailer to be where it is, but your operator on multiple occasions accused me of theft because I told him I'd they didn't want to move it down one block I could for them.
Seriously I've been inquiring about this issue for over a week and today was the first time any of your employees mentioned anything about immunity for government vehicles, you guys need to get your rules/ information sorted.
Best price for heated parking near the courthouse. Great deal Fridays after 11am for 5 bucks till 6 am next day.
The CPA is so crooked, the CPA Administrator acts as judge and interested party at the same time when reviewing an appeal. They are a private company that makes profit out of tickets!
They didn't even look into my appeal, they sent me back a template email stating some general parking rules and refusing the appeal without providing arguments.
They well know that it's not feasible to go to the court right now, especially not for $40. THEY KNOW THIS and are taking advantage of the situation.
Well, you got (stole) my $40, merry Christmas!
Your "administrative review", and I use the term loosely, didn't address one of the many points I brought to your attention. It simply cited the subject of my appeal and that was it. Try to put a modicum of effort into it next time for other's sake.
EDIT: I worked through the not so great website, and appealed the ticket again and it got thrown out, not a great experience but not the worst, so im updating the review.
Parked in front of my own house, and got a ticket, tried to appeal the ticket stating where i live, even showing the vehicle registered to the house, but they give NO information, and deny my appeal, so i look it up and try to apply to get a permit even though there is no sign saying i need one, the website is unbelievable garbage and utterly useless. Constant miserable experience, but they don't care because they are city run, so its just normal.
Nobody likes coming here, so with that in mind I will say the staff is very helpful!
Receiving a ticket is a bummer, especially when you inadvertently rather than purposefully break the rule. I parked on a side street where the sign said 2 hour parking (BIG letters) from 11:00-15:30 Mon-Fri (smaller letters). Under that in much tinier letters were the words payment required. My interpretation was that one could park for free between those hours as long as it was less than 2 hours and payment was required for longer periods of time between those hours.
Unfortunately (for me), CPA s interpretation was that parking is never free, and that you may only park there for 2 hours or less between those hours but payment is ALWAYS required. Guess whose interpretation wins?
I attempted the online appeal process thinking the ticket was a mistake as I d only been parked about 20 mins in a 2-hour zone. Received an automated response saying it would take 7-14 days business days for a response and that the fee schedule would freeze until I received a determination. After 15 business days, I contacted them and received a reply that they d emailed a denial 14 days earlier (never hit my inbox). I requested a copy of that email with a date stamp but after several communications only received a snapshot from their system indicating that an email was sent that day, not the actual email itself (which would prove their claim that I d been notified).
The whole experience leaves one feeling like they ve been conned. Nothing was straightforward or clear - from the signage, to the communication regarding appeal. Thus, with the passage of all the time in between, the fine is now at a maximum level. My online handle may be Black Sheep, but I think I m the one who s been fleeced!
Heartless to give an out of town visitor a ticket when so many others get away with parking in the same place for days at a time. Poor way to make a visitor want to come back
We spend two or more hours a day walking our dogs around the neighborhood and I can say with complete certainly that the "no parking/street sweeping sign" the inquiry has confirmed was there was absolutely not.
Its incredibly unfortunate that I'll now have to (along with a ton of other people according to your office) take a day off of work and go to court so that this scam of a company doesn't get any of my money.
Switched over to electronic parking permits, then gave me a ticket for parking in front of my own house before I even got a chance to get one.
Crooks and thieves. They let other "authorities" issue offense tickets and make it impossible to pay them in the "early incentive" window by not posting the fine in their online system and not being open when honest working people can come to their office. Must be nice to steal people's money for a living.
My car got towed and I searched up my license plate on your site and there was a fee - which at the time, thought was manageable. Different story when I actually got there. There was some bogus fee for "Main lot storage booked". On top of that, I was also given a ticket. Not only was it a huge inconvenience that you towed my vehicle, but you also cost me my time. The staff that I dealt with were nice. I didn't feel like trying to fight my ticket as it would be a losing battle, I just wanted my car back. Take me for dinner before you screw me. I truly hope I won't have to deal with your company ever again. I learned my lesson and I don't want you profiting off of my mistake.
Got a parking ticket at around 4am right in front of my house for parking too close to the alley besides my house. Appeal declined. Good job Calgary parking for ripping people off for more revenue!
They have an extreme lack of customer service skills . Called about a ticket inquiry and I was very polite. The person I talked to was extremely abrupt and rude. Where are my taxes going ?
Terrible customer service so far. I couldn't reach the main office due to job and I've been calling for last 4 days. My call always stay on hold for 2hr atleast, and still never gets answered.
The parking fee is expensive.
On-street parking is inexpensive
Zero star. worst enforcement ever! ticketed unfairly. Hope you lose lots of money!
after attempting to get a residential parking permit three separate times, I finally thought it worked. Then I received two parking tickets in the mail. So I called in & was told that because my address/license plate isnt in the system, I would have to pay the tickets. This is only the most recent in many frustrating ordeals Ive gone through with the Calgary parking authority.
These people are absolutely dispicable. Even if you work for the city on a city project they ticket you. Absolutely disgusting
Terrible customer service. I sent in multiple emails about a wrongful ticket as their new online system was broken. They took over 2 weeks to reply to the emails, and the response wasn't even to any questions I had. Whoever monitors the email accounts need to seriously have a review of how things are handled as it is completely unacceptable.
Such a beautifully vocational calling these people have
Getting a permit to park outside my house has never been harder
Ramen helped me lots with a parking site visit. She was quick and knowledgeable! thanks!
Heartless, way to efficient at giving tickets. I am a user of the park plus text to park system (which i really like). I have probably spent close to $4000 dollars parking on the street over the last few years. Just the other day i forgot to enter my parking session while heading to an onsite meeting....Boom ticket. 40$ No chance of any appeal as it was my fault but.......as a very good paying customer shouldn't I receive some form of grace or warning? There are soo many of those little camera cars that is is pretty clear CPA's mandate is to ticket as much as possible.
I am not looking for special treatment, but much like car insurance awards good drivers with a free at fault accident, I would like some grace when the occasional mistake is made.
Please CPA, prove to us you have a heart.
While getting a parking ticket is never pleasant, I appreciated that the staff made the experience better. The first time I went a staff member explained to me that I could try and appeal my ticket via email, which I appreciated as I did not initially know that. My appeal was denied and when I returned, they were just as friendly and helpful as the first time. I also experienced very reasonable wait times.
Should improve appeal process by not waiting until your grace time is over. Looks like they are creating work for themselves and making the appeal process less appealing. What about the 5 minute grace time on your website? Are you just filling in text on your website?
"You have 5 minutes to make a payment that could save you $35+ dollars.". ?????? Duh!!
Horrible experience was parked at a Rona parking lot in forest lawn and 52 street. As I was leaving one of businesses there....I. see a bunch of tickets on vehicles.. I saw parking patrol trying to leave in a hurry. First word he says before anything I am not taking back ticket in a yelling tone. I was stunned. I was there simply asking why did I get a ticket ? He then said I don t have to answer there was a bunch of others there to waiting to talk to him.
He then said some security guy called him to say he asked everyone in parking lot not to park there...I said where is this guy show me him. There is no guys here? Where is he there is no parking signs anywhere private property I was at Rona for god sakes.. he was a little old guy very rude and hostile arrogant and trying to provoke the situations. I told him I have a dash camera on my vehicle to show no one approached me.....and no one told me not to park here .there is no signs ?.....what are u enforcing .. show me. He yelled almost to a point where I felt he was going to attack he has some serious issues.
I am going to the media with this situation. Also this employee should be in a mental hospital very hostile especially around the kids..
I am not sure how cpa hired that loose cannon he has some serious mental issues
And how do we all get tickets parking at a Rona shopping center ? No signs private property no notices nothing honestly I lost all respect for city enforcement obviously a cash grab and complete idiots working there. I will go to the media and get this addressed . One for false ticket. 2 for the most dumbest rudest employee. Not sure how he was hired he should,have retired years ago and ended up in a mental hospital he needs mental help.......
Appeal process is a joke. Another government money grab...
Truly Unjustified Ticketing practices during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Downtown parking is no longer a competition for parking spots and yet it seems the streets are brimming with CPA Vehicles, continuing the exploitation of Calgary's drivers even when parking on an empty street. The CPA should be closed during this time to save diminishing resources, and the patrolling of an empty city core should be left to our police officers.
Thanks for kicking us when were already down.
Not sure how the rates work on the system. Its good if you get there after 4 pm as its only 2 dollars to park till 6 am the next day. If your before 4 becareful as the rate is much higher.
I called in requesting information about a residential parking permit and talked to a lady in this department specifically. She told me I could not get one at all without registering my vehicle to my new temporary address. Apparently it is a Calgary Bylaw. After further investigation of their website, I learned this was a blatant lie and I could still get a parking pass with specific supporting documents. If someone works in a specific department, they should at least know their own rules.
Run over just a few minutes and a $40 ticket! Price is way too excessive especially after paying so much to park as it is. There is so little parking and by the time you walk to your destination and do you business and walk all the way back you have a ticket. No wonder so many small businesses are going under. CPA makes it near to impossible to patronize these small businesses.
For those of you who can't see the photo I am parked probably 10 meters or so from the curbside corner of the intersection with no signage or other infractions. Yet I was cited with obstructing the intersection.
SOO glad my tax dollars are paying for these clowns to roam around with no common sense or understanding of why they do what they do. Makes you really wonder about their motivation $$$.
Update* I did appeal the ticket and they blankly decided I was obstructing the intersection. Its quite a leap to suggest that given my photo.Thank you for extorting $40 from pocket and at least in this case doing nothing to ensure fairness and safety.
Tax dollars hard at work!
See my other review to learn this exact ticket, in the exact spot was cancelled by them this summer (2017). Suddenly it is an issue again. I even sent the the appeal ruling and pictures of my last ticket and they decided not to reverse their decision.
Counter staff behave rudely & act entitled. They treat people as if they are lower class citizens.
I left my car stupidly in a fire lane while I ran into grab something from residence at mru and came back to find a hefty parking ticket. Luckily I saw the parking attendant and explained my situation in which in my blind rage of being in a rush totally was oblivious to the fact I was in a fire lane. Reddy was the parking attendant to whom I am forever in debt, for he cancelled my ticket which was for $150. He was so kind and forgiving and really saved me for being in university I dont have the funds to equip this kind of expense. Reddy thank you so much, I am so grateful:)
Overpriced and max rate gets you to 6 PM. A standard in Calgary I guess. A safe place to park.
So amazingly hard to work with. They like to brag about their technology but have no ability to refund on the virtual pay machines. Monopoly at its finest
I give these clowns hundreds of dollars a year yet they cant reduce my ticket because of me hanging out of a parking zone by 1 foot? Thanks!!!
People ALWAYS park in my private stall that is CLEARLY marked private property AND your car will be towed if parked. STILL people loooooove to park in my spot and to see what happens. Thankfully CPA is diligent in taking my call (quite frequently) and do remove the cars if they don't run out of the house first to try and move the car. Still this service is great!
Don't ever touch my car again.
1. You people NEVER assist me when someone is parked in my reserved Stall, of which I pay 125 a month to be in. Yet when I park once, in a ROSSO coffee shop slot that is built into my apartment building (which I have permission to park there), you come at 2 in the morning and tow my vehicle away to an impound lot FULL of run down, and broken vehicles.
2. My vehicle was towed from my own building. Literally I was sleeping just 300 feet away.
3. I was there at your impound lot right at the morning to take back my vehicle that you pretty much stole, even though I worked that night as a Paramedic for the city. I can say with confidence that i have NEVER been treated so poorly in my life. I was treated like a criminal. You scanned my license. Talked to me like a toddler even though I remained stern with my displeasure yet respectful. made me sit for 30 minutes waiting for God knows why. Signed my life away to get my own car back. Then I was driven around to where my car was. Sit in this cold junk work truck when the guy sat on his brand new iPad and typed in the 200+ dollar fine to basically take my "Stolen" car back. The worker did a half effort walk around my car to inspect for damages, so i had to walk around it looking in the snow. Finally when all said and done, he hands me another 50 dollar parking ticket.
Here is an idea for you. Maybe if you didn't parade your workers around with 600+ dollar iPad's, you wouldn't need to gouge an honest hard working first Responder. Oh, and be respectful to those that you waste their time and money, it's the least I ask.
Finally, I'll say it once more. Don't ever touch my car again.
Edit add on for Nov 8th.****
Stop trying to steal my money. Seriously. Stop. Your employees failed to look at the passenger side dash for a paid parking permit, and issued me another 50 dollar ticket. Unacceptable.
Called their office to confirm that my Zone C parking permit covered the street outside my townhouse. They assured me it did but did not clarify that it only applied to the West side of the street while the East side required payment. Checked on my car every day to ensure I did not receive a ticket on the dash just in case I misunderstood the information. Received the parking ticket in the mail a number of days later and moved my vehicle immediately. During the time it took to receive the first ticket in the mail my vehicle was tagged three more times! How am I supposed to correct my behavior if I'm not properly notified that I was doing something incorrectly. If you insist on handling your permits and tags digitally through email then issue the citations through email! You can't expect drivers to react to notifications if your just going to continue tagging their vehicle during the time it takes to notify them.
I would actually give them zero stars if I could! I found out I have 3 parking tickets registered to my plate for 95$ each! Funny thing is I have never received a ticket on my windshield or in the mail!!! So where are these tickets coming from since they never provided me with anything!! I don't mind paying for the tickets if I actually have written proof. When I go to look at the notes for each ticket all it says is parked in Calgary???? So unprofessional
I give two stars cause at least the officer showed up. Four hours a truck and trailer blocked my driveway and 3mins after they left the parking officer showed up. Unless tax payer service. But if you park downtown and you run to the store to get more change for the machine they'll nail ya. Useless. I can see why people get so angry with them.
Recently came back to Calgary to visit a friend arrived at 10pm at night. By the next morning I had a parking ticket for street maintenance. Apparently at the entrance to the community there was a sign posted noted neighborhood street cleaning. My friend who lives there and parks in the her garage wasn't aware of the sign either which tells me it wasn't that obvious. Needless to say frustrated to pay $80 for something that most people likely wouldn't notice arriving at night into a neighborhood. Feel like the money was essentially stolen from me as parking restrictions should be more obvious. Not worth my time to go to court over $80. Everywhere else I've lived posts signs on the streets being swept.
I have to call on these folks on a steady basis to control all the illegally parked vehicles from the low cost housing complex that block my driveway on a weekly basis. They respond quickly and take care of the nuisance vehicles.
I recommend this service to homeowners experiencing the same type of neglectful parking behavior from ignorant and disrespectful drivers.
I really like how they can ticket me for parking too close to a crosswalk. Sure, 4m isn't 5m and I should've got my measuring tape and checked. But maybe just maybe if they did a better job ticketing/towing all the cars on my street that repeatedly park without a permit there would be more spots. further away from the crosswalk.
I have had several occasions to call CPA and have had excellent response each time thanks for your help and keep up the good work
Called dispatch today to report a car using a handicapped parking spot that had no placard and they said they'd send a car out right away. Not sure what that meant because I was there for a couple hrs and no sign of the parking authority.
They had a stampede breakfast for everyone which was good
Preying on people during these tough times when parking laws shouldn't even exist as there is no traffic on the roads!
Gotta fill them city coffers so they can squander it on the next waste money like they always do.
Pretty terrible customer service over the phone, every time I need to call. Surly staff that are told to be nice but aren't, and the language barrier is almost always a challenge.
Website is good though, mobile works well. Processing of documents sent in regarding permits quite fast too.
Time's must be tough for the CPA. has got to be the most crooked organization around here. What a bunch of clowns.
Provided details of two abandoned cars to 311, but they sloughed the issue off for me to report it to CPA. The 311 and CPA staff get their paycheques from the same employer, but the City has not figured out how to link the technologies used by each department. CPA's response is to call, but did not provide any information on how the photographs are provided via a telephone call. Duh?
No one likes seeing a $40.00 ticket on their windshield after running into Subway for nine minutes to get a sub that leaves them smelling odd for three hours after - but in terms of customer service, CPA has been great to deal with over the phone.
Also, the voice on their automated messaging system is super relaxing, which is beneficial considering we're all usually worked up when trying to pay a ticket.
Usually they are very good. Right now they don't know how many days behind they are for dealing with abandoned vehicles. Really that is pretty outrageous. It is a number that management should know always - just like MacDonalds knows how many seconds they are taking to serve up an order. How else can they plan? How can they not know?? I've been waiting 7 days and all I get is "I'm sorry I don't know how far we are behind". They need to roll some heads over there.
Money grubbers! In almost 8 years of parking at a c-train lot, I did not know, that one must park facing in. I know very well, where not to park, as No parking signs are EVERYWHERE.
But on the south side of Franklin c- train parking, there are 3, only 3 signs to say 'park facing in'. And good luck reading 21 lines of small print, on a dirty sign, while watching out for people and traffic!
They make money illegally through the law which that they were made by them-self (they are the lawmaker and the judge !) they charge a fee storage 40$/day in their impound lot! so if you make a mistake you will get a high bill. They make money in few seconds from hard worker people.
If I could give less than 1 star I would. By far the ruddiest employee's you will ever come across. If you hate your job so much quit and don't be rude arrogant jack ass's to the people calling in for answers.
ZERO Customer service skills by anyone that works here. Maybe they should be sending the staff already trained there how to deal with the public instead of being arrogant. Flat out told that they will Not enforce any residential parking passes till next week and told me to go park somewhere else because of the jack ass parked in front of my house that made it impossible to park in front or behind him. Was even told anyone in the city could park in front of a fire hydrant right now and if there was a fire, the fire department could handle it cause they wont be dealing with anything until next week. Was told I could ask a question once Arrogant Ken was done talking.
And until parking authority enforces these pass's sure hope you don't have someone in your house with a disability because Ken informed me as well that more or less to bad and again go park somewhere else.
Was not open and you have to pay to pay a ticket??? Are you kidding me?????
The parking authority is severely understaffed on the enforcement side. It's no surprise that people ignore the parking bylaws all over the city. Who's going to catch you? Calgary can pass all the bylaws it wants, but if its not going to enforce them regularly are they really valid?
Just as an example in my 1 block surrounding radius on a daily basis (no exaggeration here) you can see violators of the parking permit zones, parking right up to intersection (obstructing traffic control signals and traffic), blocking alleyways/driveways/gates, RVs stored longterm on inner city residential streets and just general jerk park jobs.
At least they are open about it, posted right on their website that they don't enforce on a regular basis because they simply can't...That said, I've found the staff generally pleasant in interactions and more or less responsive. Odds are if your blocked in your own driveway and call them they will eventually make it out to ticket someone.
Again not really parking authorities fault city councillors prefer finger trap bridges that serve rich sub-communities, quarter billion dollar library projects (when books are disappearing no less!!) and other gentry daydreams rather than actual services. Odd they are so poorly funded, enforcement should pay for itself quite easily with the fine revenue they generate, but I'm sure councillor Farrel had some pet project to fund at the time.
Great of course they are closed on the weekends when we need them the most cause people park all the time in our spot.
Called over 5 hours ago to have a vehicle parked in my spot towed away. Very slow response time and poor service if you even get it..
calgaryparking.com