Commercial truck business in B.C. is booming but drivers say they're running out of places to park

A parking lot for semi-trucks in Aldergrove, B.C., is packed bumper-to-bumper as drivers go home for the night — a sight all too familiar for Sukhwinder Cheema, who says finding a place to park his big rig overnight is becoming increasingly difficult.

"We have to park on the street many times," said the truck driver, who works for Red Star Transport in Aldergrove, a community in the Township of Langley about 59 kilometres east of Vancouver.

"We're not doing it by choice. It's very frustrating."

CBC News has spoken to several truck drivers who say they have few options left for overnight parking, especially south of the Fraser River, as the increase in drivers in B.C. has led to fuller parking lots. 

This also means some drivers wind up parking illegally — on the side of residential streets, in unsafe areas, or are asking farmers to park on their property, says Navi Brar, a truck driver from Abbotsford, who also operates a trucking company. 

According to the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) — the province's public auto insurance provider — there were 69,000 active commercial Class 1 driver licences in 2017, which have since increased to 75,000 in 2021. 

A Class 1 licence is needed to drive a semi-truck and can be used for all other vehicles except a motorcycle, according to ICBC.

That doesn't include the number of trucks arriving in B.C. from other provinces or the U.S. to drop off and pick up goods. 

Drivers and city officials are calling for more solutions, including more parking lots and an increase in the number of trucks allowed to park on agricultural land unfeasible for farming, which requires permission from the local city council and the Agricultural Land Commission. 

Trucks can be parked in industrial zones such as lots owned by transportation and trucking companies, commercial truck parks, rest stops and on farms under specific local zoning rules.

"Our fleet grows every year by several hundred vehicles a year. And that's just due to population growth," said Dave Earle, president of the B.C. Trucking Association, who says more drivers are needed to meet growing demand in the province as a result of population growth.

Earle says parking challenges are especially common in urban areas, primarily in B.C.'s Fraser Valley, where most trucks are registered.

According to the City of Abbotsford, the number of tickets issued to commercial vehicles, including those with a gross vehicle weight of 5,500 kilograms or more, trucks with trailers as well as cabs parked illegally on city streets and private properties, grew from 165 in 2015 to 1,187 in 2022.

"[It's] a growing problem and one that we fear will continue to grow, as pressure on our land continues," said Earle. "There's huge frustration."