City increases parking fines to decrease congestion

Up as much as $150 in Toronto

Parking fines for tickets, like this one in the east end, have jumped in Toronto. Evangelo Sipsas/Toronto Observer

Motorists will no longer be receiving a slap on the wrist when parking their vehicles illegally, starting today.

In September city council agreed to increase the fines of certain parking tickets.

Starting today, motorists who double park, stand in a TTC zone, block a high-occupancy vehicle lane (HOV) or block a sidewalk will have to pay up to $150 if caught. This is a significant increase from before when they had to pay $40 to $60 if parked illegally.

In a written statement, Mayor Tory said that is an effort to reduce congestion by cracking down offenders.

“By attaching a real price to blocking lanes or traffic with illegal parking, we will reduce congestion,” Mayor Tory said.

“This is one more step that we are taking to keep the city moving and pedestrians safe,” he added.

The number of patrolling officers or parking enforcement officers will not increase, but they will be cracking down on offenders more.

“The first little while the public is aware that the rules are coming out, so in the beginning we are going to see, is that they are going to have some sort of initiative out to make sure they target the areas,” Const. Fitzroy Parker said.

Last year the City of Toronto wrote off about 800,000 parking tickets saving the city close to $20 million dollars.

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Posted: Apr 1 2016 5:06 pm
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