The era of parking all day Saturday at downtown meters is coming to an end in Regina.

The city says that starting on Aug. 18, it will be enforcing a traffic bylaw that makes it illegal to park at a metered stall for longer than two hours.

The fine will be $45, although it's reduced to $10 if paid within 14 days. The good news, for those who like to park on the street, is that people still won't have to plug the meters — parking will continue to be free on Saturdays.

To get people used to the idea, the city will be putting warning flyers on cars that have exceeded the two-hour limit this Saturday. A week later, the warning period will be over and tickets will be given out, it says.

The idea behind the crackdown is to open up more short-term parking spots to encourage more people to come downtown.

People who need to park all day should go to one of the commercial parking lots downtown, the city says.

The two-hour limit doesn't apply to Sundays and holidays, which are also "free meter" days.