Discussions

big changes in the way you pay for parking in the lot at the hospital

Care to elaborate? This post is very vague

Changed bigly, everyone knows it, believe you me.

There have been more changes since the last discussion was active. The gates are jo longer in place and you have to prepay. It is still $2 for the hour and $1 for every hour after that with a $12 all day maximum. But now you prepay and get a ticket that you have to place on your dashboard. I know that other places have parking like this but it does make it difficult if you don't know how long an appointment will take. For example, I was there last week for an iron infusion- my first one- so I didn't know what to expect. I paid for one hour and once got in to my appointment found out that it would take 1 hour to administer the treatment. I had to come get someone to come pay for extra parking for me because I couldn't go out and put more money on myself.

Thank you for clarifying what the changes are.  
 
I'm actually not surprised that they changed the system. Those darn gates don't work probably 1/2 the time and you could scoot out without paying.  
 
Did you notice whether they had a top-up option? In some places with prepayment, you can pay using your smartphone top up that way too if you need more time.

Now I have some questions:  
1) After I park somewhere in the lot - I now have to walk to the kiosk in the southeast part of the lot - go inside - prepay - get a ticket and then walk back to my car to put the ticket on the dashboard - seems like a lot of walking especially if I'm parked as far away from the kiosk as you can possibly park. Is this correct?  
2) Does the ticket machine accept bills and give you change or do I need exact change? And before you ask - I don't have an iPhone or tablet or any kind of payment device - I pay cash.  
Thanks in advance for answering my questions. Yeah I know my technology hasn't advanced since the 80's I guess - all phones are landlines - not even a simple cell phone.

We drove up to the kiosk (the ticket machines are outside the kiosk), got out of my car, got a ticket and then parked.  
 
I’m assuming that this system is a temporary fix, as this is a terrible solution.

I am unsure if there was a top-up option. As I said, I was inside already at my appointment before I found put I would need to be there longer than the amount I paid for and so had to get someone to come and do it for me.

1) What I did yesterday is I drove to the pay station, whichnos right outside the little building you used to go in to pay, paid for my 2 hours of parking to get my ticket and then went and parked my vehicle.  
2) I believe that you need exact change because it does not give out change. So if you only have a five dollar bill you would be paying for 4 hours of parking. You can use credit card as well.

Modern parking lots have a machine and now you can use an app. No tickets, you can check the time remaining, add funds remotely, etc.

yes, you have to stand outside that little bldg in the lot, in the cold and dark, fish out cash or your credit card, get your ticket, go back to your car, put it on the dash and then walk back to the hospital. You might try to stop close to the ticket vending machine but that may not work at visiting time as it would be very busy. Estimating the time needed seems an odd method and so we will err on the side of paying for extra time which gets expensive  
Not a good plan.  
 
Edited by MEB, 2019-11-05 23:25:36

I find it stressful enough to be at the hospital with out this added stress and expense. I used to park on the street to the east of the hospital where there are no meters, now you need a pass-card to get into the building from the east. I will still try to park on the street, however it will have to be on the side with meters so I don't have to walk so far. I just really detest the parking lot.

Prairie Mountain Health provided me with a statement in response to questions I'd sent. I've put together a post that speaks a little further to the system that they say is temporary after parking infrastructure failure:  
https://ebrandon.ca/buzzpost.aspx?buzz_id=577