Thousands of staff members at the QEII in Halifax are now looking for new places to park their vehicle.
As part of the hospital’s expansion of the Halifax Infirmary, the Robie Street parkade has been closed since Monday.
It was shut down in preparation of its demolition, which is set to happen in September.
The parkade held hundreds of parking spaces and in order to try to fill that void, there are new options available as an alternative.
These include 230 spaces at the Garrison Grounds as well as 100 spots at the Summer Street parkade for those who choose to carpool.
Jane Davies, with Partners for Care tells our newsroom what has been offered so far to staff, is going “pretty well”.
“We’ve had upwards of 178 staff parking each day this week at the Garrison Grounds and so that leaves a capacity of about 25 per cent with some availability for staff to park there. We knew this week would be the best week to start, so we did that strategically.”
Davies says there is a shuttle bus available at the Garrison Grounds from 5:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. to take workers to the hospital.
OPT Program
All of these new options are part of Partners for Care’s new Options for Parking and Transportation (OPT) program.
Staff are able to choose what parking options work for them but are really encouraged to use sustainable transportation – walking, taking transit or cycling to work.
Davies says about 1,300 employees have signed up so far, and in compensation, they receive a heavily discounted transit pass as well as five taxi vouchers for the year.
“We are getting really positive feedback from the staff about the deeply discounted Halifax transit passes and the taxi vouchers that they get for signing up. So, we are going to continue promoting that and are enjoying getting some positive response from the staff that they are appreciating how easy it is to take advantage of that program.”
The vouchers are to be used in case of an emergency where staff may need to get home quickly, and their carpool partner is not available.
Even with all of these options, Davies does acknowledge that it is still not enough for the roughly 12,000 employees who work at the hospital, so they continue to gather feedback from staff.
She thanks them for their ongoing commitment and the patience they’ve shown this week.
“It’s a big change and change is disruptive, and we understand that, and we hope we are doing everything we can to make it as easy on folks as possible…”
Still missing the mark
Parking at the QEII is still a huge challenge according to Sandra Mullens, president of the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union (NSGEU).
Mullens tells us although she hasn’t spoken to staff directly since the closure, the comments she has seen suggests parking is still very difficult.
“…I have seen comments by many of our members who are absolutely frustrated in the inability to find a parking space when they come to work in the morning. I myself was through there today…the road closures and all of that… and I was not looking to park near the sight to work at a hospital. So, I cannot imagine what our members are having to deal with to try to get themselves to a shift in the morning.”
In addition to that, she believes the worst is yet to come when school is back in session next week.
“Next week will be a return to work for our teachers. There will be increased traffic of course and it is a nightmare at best. Parking has been a challenge in this peninsula for a long time…”
Mullens says staff who are able to use transit, already are, and for those who work nights or really early mornings are not able to choose that option.
She says unavailable parking might be a determining factor on whether or not staff would choose to work at a different hospital, where it may be easier to find a spot.
