By Pepper Parr
June 11, 2026
BURLINGTON, ON
Parking – that and traffic congestion – the two are joined at the hip.
The business organization located in the downtown core have a two-edged sword problem.
UBER: a service that could loosen up a lot of parking spaces.
They need parking spaces for their customers, and they need spaces for their staff who take care of those customers.
There is a simple solution: Give the employees access to the Uber service. Employees would be reimbursed when they use Uber to get to and from work. The employee would not have to pay for parking, and by using Uber, they would loosen up parking spaces.
Brian Dean
Craig Kumer
Brian Dean and Craig Kumer think it through – it might work.
It would be a short-term measure and could give the parking gurus time to see if the idea makes a difference. Cost would be negligible; certainly less than the $300,000 the parking people want to spend on yet another study.
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This might free up parking space, at the cost of additional traffic on the roads.
Every Uber ride requires a pickup, and a dropoff from somewhere. Could be double the distance travelled compared to a private vehicle, which would increase traffic Downtown.
There’s also the compensation component. If some employees are being compensated for their commute to work, why would this not apply to every employee? Normally the commute to work is the responsibility of the employee not the employer. Does a person taking transit, biking or walking to work deserve to be paid less than someone using an Uber?
I have heard a resident (I don’t know his name but he always speaks up)both at the Traffic Forum and at Councilor Kearns update meetings suggest a way to reduce downtown traffic and the need for more parking space is for the city to provide a shuttle service connecting the two GO stations and the two malls with the downtown. Both downtown workers (including City staff) and visitors wishing to access the downtown would be able to park for free at those four locations and ride a shuttle bus to the downtown.
That would seem like a good solution. Perhaps someone can say why it might not be.
Even considering building another multi-story parking lot to accommodate visitors and downtown employees is absolutely stupid. On the one hand the City says it is trying to dissuade people driving their cars downtown in favour of using transit. But then on the other hand, they’re talking about building a multi storey parking lot which will only encourage the traffic into the downtown..
And who’s going to pay for this?
Silly idea. People should not be forced to use an unregulated, unliscened mode of transportaion to get to work.
Editor’s note: Uber is both regulated and licensed.
Dumb idea. Takes away the convenience of using one’s own vehicle to get to/from work. Also, many employees are likely dropping off/picking up kids, doing etc. on their commute.
Better yet – downtown workers – including City Hall staff – should be getting to and from work by using Burlington Transit.
This would also greatly reduce road congestion as well as freeing up more parking space.
Doug Brown
Burlington for Accessible Sustainable Transit
Editors note:
When I am in Burlington with our a car I use Uber frequently. It is direct and convenient. It does cost more than transit which for me is free due to my age. But it saves me hours.
What if I live in Mississauga and work in Burlington? Do you want me to take a bus?
What if I pick up my kids after I finish work downtown? Do I take a bus home, then get the van?
No way in heck is this going to fly !!!!!!!!!