Banff Operators Spend $100,000+ to Park While a Loophole Lets Out-of-Town Buses Stay Free

Banff transportation operators are warning that town parking rules are pushing up costs for local companies while letting out-of-town competitors park overnight for free.

Speaking at a December 2 Banff town meeting, Banff Airporter director Mark Yawney outlined how the current system treats resident and non-resident businesses differently. He was speaking on behalf of Banff Airporter, Discover Banff Tours, White Mountain Adventures and Pursuit.

Yawney told councillors that companies based in communities like Canmore or Calgary can operate with a non-resident business permit. “As a non-resident business permit holder, you are allowed to park overnight for free at the Hawk Avenue parking lot as well as the Liricon Train parking lot,” he said. By contrast, “if you are a resident business licence holder, you are not permitted to park in those parking lots at all.”

Local operators with resident permits instead lease parking in a compound. “They park their vehicles on a lot that they lease,” Yawney explained. He estimated “the average that companies are paying for leased lots in town is probably $400-500 per spot per month.” For a fleet of vehicles, he said, “you’re talking about a significant investment.”

Yawney asked council to help “create a level playing field for parking of buses in town” by tightening rules and enforcement.

Moraine Lake changes and bus growth

Yawney linked the parking pressure to Parks Canada’s changes at Moraine Lake. He told councillors that while the Hawk Avenue lot was originally used by occasional visitors like a Winnipeg band trip that has come once a year for decades, the situation has shifted.

“With the Moraine Lake changes, there are now literally hundreds of companies that hold licenses in the town of Banff as non-residents,” he said. “They all roll into town, and then they have no parking. And so their buses just get littered all over Banff streets.”

Companies with non-resident business permits can use Hawk Avenue and the Liricon train station overnight at no charge. Yawney said there are lots in the compound that are available to lease, but none of the non-resident permit holders are taking them “because they’re provided a free lot by the Town of Banff.”

Enforcement, fines and nightly complaints

The operators also raised concerns about inconsistent enforcement. In her summary, Mayor Corrie DiManno reviewed three requests from their earlier letter: improving parking enforcement, introducing a fair market parking fee for non-resident business licence holders, and prohibiting overnight street parking of commercial buses in the compound. The first item already has a motion directing a report back to council in the first quarter of next year; the other two remain outstanding.

Even with access to the free lots, and the option of leasing space in the compound, many non-resident buses still end up on nearby streets. Yawney said it has become routine to find out-of-town buses parked around town, including directly outside their office.

“We’ll show up to work and there will be three or four non-resident business holder bus companies parked right in front of our office,” he said. “We’ll call bylaw and say, ‘We’ve got these buses that are parked in front of our building.’ And sometimes it will be enforced rapidly, and other times we’re essentially told, ‘Well, they’ve gotta be able to park somewhere.’”

He said they receive “a variety of different responses in terms of what the actual bylaw is,” both in the compound and around town when commercial buses park on local streets.

For the operators, the problem is not just clarity but consequences. Yawney asked council to direct bylaw staff to enforce proactively and to increase fines “so that it isn’t just considered an operating expense of those businesses.” Right now, he said, many operators park “all over town” and “then they receive a nominal fine and they just consider it their fee for parking.”

He added that Banff Airporter and others are spending about $100,000 a year on a parking lot and “just feel that that needs to be addressed.”

What happens next

Committee members did not make any new decisions on December 2. The parking fee request for non-resident licence holders and a formal prohibition on overnight street parking of commercial buses in the compound remain on the table for future discussion, alongside the existing direction for a Q1 report on parking enforcement.

Yawney’s core ask to council is clear: more clarity on where buses can park, and more consistent, proactive enforcement so that local operators who lease space are not undercut by companies parking for free.