Lindsay Heller told Global News that she stayed up until midnight on Friday to secure the afternoon booking and felt like she had “hit the lottery” when she secured an afternoon slot for the Sunday weekend. As part of a pilot project run by BC Hydro, which owns and operates the lake, participants must make a free reservation to access the lake this year, an initiative aimed at reducing traffic congestion and illegal parking in nearby roads.
Read more: BC Hydro implements parking passes at Buntzen Lake, citing neighborhood impacts
“I could have had the first day, but I knew we weren’t going to be there in the morning, so we took the afternoon schedule and planned our whole day around that — we packed up the kids and left,” she said. . Story continues below ad On Sunday, Heller, her husband, their two children and her father packed up all their gear, packed lunch and piled into the car and made the 80-minute drive to the lake. The family purposely arrived around 4:30 p.m. expecting the morning swimmers – whose reservation ended at two – to have cleared out, he said. 2:09 Lake Buntzen’s parking reservation system has problems on its first day Buntzen Lake’s parking reservation system has problems on its first day – June 27, 2022 Instead, they arrived at the parking lot only to be pushed away by staff. “We were told they weren’t honoring afternoon reservations because the morning people hadn’t left yet and there was no parking,” he said, adding that he asked staff what they were doing to fix the problem. “They had no answer for us. I feel bad for them. They seemed ill-equipped to deal with it. You know, they’re young people standing in the sun too,” he said. Trending Stories
Montreal mom apologizes for police intervention at son’s lemonade stand Trudeau and family go to Costa Rica for a 2 week vacation
Story continues below ad
Read more: TransLink adds bus service to Metro Vancouver’s summer hotspots
“But we had also made a full day of it, and it’s not a 15-minute drive for us.” Staff asked them to go to a nearby mall and come back later, but said they couldn’t guarantee there would be room for them, she said. The family went and got ice cream and returned about an hour and a half later when access was finally granted — about 30 minutes before the sun set behind the ridge. “It was better than nothing, but it ruined our day and made it not as much fun as it was supposed to be,” he said. 2:06New Buntzen Lake parking reservation system to launch in June New Buntzen Lake parking reservation system to launch in June – May 4, 2022 On Monday, BC Hydro spokesperson Simi Heer apologized to the denied reservation holders. Story continues below ad Heer said park managers were dealing with a unique situation: two back-to-back missing person reports that required a network search and that drew staff away from the beach and parking lot. “In this situation, our parks staff were going around asking people whose passes were expiring to leave, but unfortunately they were called to two back-to-back emergencies and couldn’t do it,” he said.
Read more: Next month, you’ll need a reservation to park at Buntzen Lake
Haer said this was the first time in the five-week pilot program that reservation holders were turned away. He said BC Hydro will incorporate lessons learned from the incident when it reviews the initiative in late summer. But he said park users also need to do their part. “For the system to work, we need people who book in to leave when their time is up.” “We’re all in this together and doing our best to learn and tweak processes as we go, but we also need people to do the right thing.” For Heller, the experience put a damper on what was supposed to be a fun family outing. Story continues below ad He said the reservation policy appears to be working in terms of preventing illegal parking in the area, but there are obvious issues that need to be addressed for park users. “It’s really disappointing because I did the right thing and I believe in justice, and the breakfast people just didn’t care,” he said. “If you decide to be there until 2 p.m.… and you just decide to stay, I think the car should be towed. It’s fair for people who work a whole afternoon to come and enjoy the area with their families.” © 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
