Meter parking on the street in some commercial areas of Vancouver is about to get more expensive, after city council approved plans Tuesday to boost rates and expand metered parking.

It will soon cost drivers as much as $5 an hour to park at a meter in Vancouver's downtown business district. That's an increase of $1 an hour.

The cost of plugging the meter is going up in many parts of downtown Vancouver.
(CBC)

Parking along the Granville Mall will double from $2 an hour to $4 an hour.

Rates will also go up along Robson Street, in Chinatown and around B.C. Place and GM Place.

The reason for the increases said the city's head of parking, Doug Louie, is to increase the turnover of parking spaces to help local businesses.

"We don't want people to park on our streets for hours on end. The whole purpose of street parking is to provide short-term parking for customers. And so, by raising the rates, that encourages them to only park there for short periods of time."

Raising the rates will also mean an additional $1 million in the first year and an extra $2 million a year by 2009 for the city, bringing the total revenue from parking meters to more than $27 million a year.

The changes will start to take effect as soon as the meters can be reprogrammed.

The city also plans changes to its pay-by-phone system to plug a loophole that has allowed some drivers to remain at meters longer than the two-hour limit.

As well, the city will look at on-street terminals like those used in Toronto, which could eliminate parking meters altogether.