The City of Kamloops is inviting residents to help choose a new pay parking provider as it prepares to replace aging parking machines across the city.

The City is moving away from owning its pay parking machines and instead plans to lease new equipment from an experienced provider, a shift driven largely by changes in technology, according to Community Services Manager Will Beatty.

“What we’re looking to do is replace the current pay parking machines that are on the streets and inside of places like Sandman Centre, Tournament Capital Centre, as well as McArthur Island,” Beatty said. “We’re looking to change out those machines, and we’ve shortlisted a couple of proponents based on the technical and software requirements that the City has.”

Beatty said leasing allows the City to avoid being locked into outdated technology.

“A lot of it has to do with aging technology,” he said. “As technology starts to age, you can put the reliance on the company that is best suited to replace these machines on a more frequent basis versus owning the infrastructure and having to rebuy new machines.”

As part of the selection process, the City is hosting two public demonstration sessions where residents can test unbranded parking machines and provide feedback. The input will help determine which system is ultimately selected.

The sessions will be held Tuesday, Jan. 13, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Kia Lounge at the Sandman Centre, and Wednesday, Jan. 14, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Sports Centre Lounge at the McArthur Island Sport and Event Centre. Residents can drop in at any time during the sessions, and participation is expected to take only a few minutes.

“The machines are going to be different in nature,” Beatty said. “We’re looking at a use and functionality assessment from the users. At that point, they’ll have a chance to vote on the machine that they would like to see in the city, and that does have a weighing scale on the actual awarding of these contracts.”

Paid parking in Kamloops currently includes approximately 800 on-street spaces downtown, nine off-street pay-and-display lots, pay-by-space parking at the Tournament Capital Centre, and City-owned parkades on Seymour Street and Lansdowne Street.

Beatty acknowledged that paid parking is often unpopular but said the program is designed to be self-funded.

“Parking’s to pay for parking,” he said. “The amount of people that are out there paying for parking or receiving parking violations, that program’s essentially supposed to pay for itself. It’s a pay-by-use model.”

He added that without paid parking, enforcement and infrastructure costs would have to be covered through taxation.

“If we didn’t charge for parking and we had enforcement staff out there, that’s where you would start to see a taxation-based model for parking,” Beatty said.

The City expects to finalize a new pay parking contract by the end of February, with installation and implementation of the new system planned for spring 2026.

Residents interested in providing feedback are encouraged to attend one of the demonstration sessions.