OTTAWA — Street-parking permits will be more expensive during the winter months, and there’s no promise that OC Transpo fares won’t go up more than expected next year.

If you buy a yearly permit to park on the street, the cost isn’t changing. It will remain at $648 a year.

The monthly fees will be changing, however, depending on what time of year it is.

City Council has approved a cost of $30 per month during the summer, and $140 per month in the winter.

Council also gave the go-ahead Wednesday to free parking at five City-owned parking garages when overnight parking bans are in place because of snow.

If you’re a transit-user, you could be seeing some changes as well.

We won’t know for sure until next month, when the proposed fare table is presented with next year’s budget, but the City Manager says a larger-than-expected fare increase is possible.

Mayor Jim Watson isn’t making any predictions on that.

“I don’t want to pre-judge the work that OC Transpo is doing,” said Watson after Wednesday’s Council meeting. “Obviously we have increased costs — labour costs, gasoline costs, wear-and-tear on the buses, the purchase of new vehicles and so on. There is a cost that goes with providing a transit system in a city as large as the City of Ottawa.”