The City of Penticton is moving ahead with a series of downtown parking lot improvements and adding more public parking spaces to better support people who work, shop and visit downtown.
The changes follow recommendations from the 2025 Downtown Parking Needs Study, which found there is adequate parking supply downtown to accommodate future growth, but opportunities exist to improve access to and use of existing parking spaces. The study is available to view online at penticton.ca/parking.
The City works closely with the Downtown Penticton Business Improvement Association (DPBIA) to enhance City-owned public parking and support the needs of downtown businesses, employees and customers. This collaboration will continue as the City begins work on a new Downtown Plan later this year, in close partnership with the DPBIA.
The changes are intended to improve the use of existing parking resources by encouraging longer-term parkers to use off-street lots, helping preserve high-demand on-street spaces for customers, visitors and short-term trips downtown.
Recent improvements include adding approximately 36 new off-street public parking spaces by expanding the Nanaimo Avenue (Old Nanaimo Hall) parking lot, as well as converting six previously reserved spaces in the Ellis Street (Old Greyhound) lot to public parking.
The upcoming improvements will include:
- Introducing a new $7.50 daily parking rate in City-owned downtown lots in late September 2026. This is intended to fill the current gap between hourly parking and monthly permits for people who park downtown on a regular basis but do not require a monthly pass. The existing hourly parking rate of $2 per hour will remain unchanged.
- Allocating approximately 50 more spaces for monthly permit holders across various City-owned lots downtown to help reduce existing permit waitlists.
- Enhancing parking lot signage and wayfinding to improve visibility, clarity and ease of use.
- Updating online parking information on the City’s website to make it easier for users to locate available parking options.
Beginning Jan. 1, 2027, the following monthly permit rates will be adjusted to align with the new daily rate:
- Monthly scramble permit: $60
- Monthly reserved permit: $75
Note to customers: These rates will not be available until after the approval of the Bylaw on Sept. 29, 2026.
These new rates remain competitive with comparable communities throughout British Columbia and are intended to encourage greater use of scramble parking and improve parking utilization compared to reserved spaces.
For information about downtown parking, visit penticton.ca/parking.
