CALGARY, CANADA – The city of Calgary is considering creating designated parking zones to help free up some room for food trucks.

Parking in the downtown core is already limited and food truck operators are left fighting for a few prime spots.

Paul Nguyen runs “Subs’N Bubbles” and is forced to try and beat the downtown rush to park his truck.

“There’s a lot of car-2-gos and other cars parked in similar areas,” he said. “If there were more designated areas then trucks wouldn’t have to be there super early to block off traffic.”

Nguyen also points out that the trucks only need four to five hours on weekdays to park.

The city has been considering the idea of creating designated areas where food trucks can park.

Aman Adatia co-owns Naaco food truck, and believes the city should look at other municipalities where designated parking for food trucks has been implemented.

“Vancouver, which our model is closely related to, went down that route with designated parking stalls and it seems to be very successful,” said Adatia.

He warns that there is bound to be pushback from restaurants that could claim they stand to lose business.

Adatia says if you crunch the numbers, it’s not that big of a loss.

“It works out to basically two customers an hour,” explains Adatia. “We’re only open for two hours, so that’s four customers.”

A report to council concluded the local food truck industry is in its infancy and at the most critical point of its development.

Food truck operators say they are willing to work with the city to find a solution that includes designated locations where trucks and local business can thrive.

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