Visitors and shoppers in Downtown Bridgewater will find that there are paid parking areas along our historic King Street core. Parking meters are installed on King Street, from Victoria Road to Maple Street, and in select locations on Pleasant, Empire, and Phoenix Street.

There are pay parking kiosks located at the Town Centre (Farmers’ Market) Parking Lot, the North Parkade, and the O’Neill Parking Lot. The block of King Street between Old Bridge and Dufferin is also serviced by pay parking kiosks. Do you have the HotSpot app on your phone? Use HotSpot to pay for parking in Bridgewater!

Paid parking in the areas identified above is in effect from Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., excepting holidays, at a rate of $1 per hour.

If you are displaying a Veteran’s licence plate, you are exempt from paying for parking – Bridgewater was the first town in Nova Scotia to offer free parking for Veterans.

TO LEARN HOW TO PAY A PARKING TICKET CLICK HERE.

Why do we have paid parking?
Paid parking accomplishes two things:

- It encourages customer/user turnover, ensuring that poachers aren’t parking in front of businesses all day long.

- Revenue from parking is used to help pay for the cost to maintain parking areas (including snow clearing, salting, and structural maintenance) in Downtown Bridgewater, as well as enforcement.

Many of our King Street shops and restaurants do not have their own parking because of space constraints and land availability in the downtown.

Under the Town’s planning and land-use rules, businesses are required to provide parking for their customers. In Downtown Bridgewater, the Town is the de facto provider of parking to many businesses, and the cost to provide those spaces (maintenance and snow clearing) must be paid.

Rather than simply covering that cost with an increase to the general tax rate or taxing businesses, Bridgewater Town Council has chosen to keep parking meters and paid parking in Downtown Bridgewater. That way, the cost to maintain parking downtown will be paid for by the users of those spaces (many of whom reside outside of Bridgewater) and not solely by the tax-paying residents or businesses of the town.

Parking Permits / Permit Spaces
If you own a business, work downtown, or live downtown, then obtaining a Town of Bridgewater Parking Permit may be the ideal parking solution to meet your needs.

Each of the Town Centre, O’Neill, and North Parkade parking lots have marked “PERMIT PARKING ONLY” spaces where permit holders can park 24-hours a day.

You can purchase a parking permit at Town Hall. The cost is $25 per month or $250 for an annual pass.* Those permits are valid from the date of purchase, so, for example, if you buy a monthly permit on June 16 it will be valid through July 16.

An added bonus for businesses is that parking permits are not assigned to a single vehicle – if you own a business and some of your staff members wish to share a parking permit, rotating it between them, they are free to do so.

Pay Parking Kiosks
Are you unsure of how to use the pay parking kiosks in our downtown? We've created the video below which will walk you through the easy steps in just 60 seconds. Give it a look!

 For more information on parking in Bridgewater or to purchase a monthly or annual parking permit, please call 902-543-4651.
*Fees are subject to change.