1,482 vehicles ticketed under snow-route parking ban

The Calgary Parking Authority says it has issued 1,482 tickets since a snow-route parking ban began Monday night.

Steady snowfall from Friday until Monday dropped 15 to 26 centimetres of snow in Calgary, slowing Monday morning's commute to a crawl and leaving some routes almost impassable.

The major snowfall prompted the city to declare a parking ban along priority 2 routes for the first time in three years.

As of 6 p.m. Monday, vehicles cannot be left on streets marked with a snow route sign for 72 hours, until 6 p .m. Thursdayunlessthe city lifts the ban sooner.

The parking authority says it has 12 officers on duty enforcing the ban, which is intended to give snow clearing equipment better access to major routes.

"We don't anticipate towing but we reserve the right to do so in the event that the plows need that space or there is an operation issue that's precluding them from getting their job done," said Mike Derbyshire with the Calgary Parking Authority.

About adozenvehicles were towed away from snow routes to make way for snow removal crews.

The Calgary Parking Authority is offering complementary parking to Calgariansaffected by the ban at its parkades and surface lots between 9 p.m. to 6 a.m.The fine for parking your car on a snow route during the ban is $75, but less if paid early.

A city official says it's all hands on deckas crews work to clear theroads.

"We have over 400 staff as well as about 100 pieces of equipment at our disposal," said Calgary roads department spokespersonBrittanyKustra.

Calgarians can check thecity's interactive mapto see how many plows are out on the roads,and where they are,at any given time.

Members enlisted to dig out Car2Govehicles

The car sharecompany Car2Go got a big push from its memberswho answered the call on social media to help dig out the company's fleet of sub-compact cars.

"The winter storm hit us quite severelyin Calgary," said Jon Wycoco, general manager of Car2Go in Calgary.

He said 150 cars were rescued from the deep snow after the company offereda $20 drive credit for every dig out.

Wycoco said the #DigOutCalgarycampaign seemed to be a big hit with members.

"It's really kind of a neat, family, community thing," he said."It gets the membership out and working together as a community."

• Extreme cold warnings lifted for southern, central Alberta
• Highway reopens after 'epic' snowstorm wallops southwestern Alberta
• Southern Alberta digs out from up to metre of snow as warnings end