Motorcycle parking in Toronto - update on the Transportation Services plan | GTAMotorcycle.com

Motorcycle parking in Toronto - update on the Transportation Services plan

MarcosSantiago

Well-known member
I got this today in an email:

"Hi everyone.

A year ago last May, many of us scooter and moped riders started receiving parking tickets for doing something we've always done without penalty: park on city sidewalks. As a result we emailed our councillors, we created this petition, we held a rally, and persuaded Councillor Josh Matlow to put forward a motion to the city’s Public Works & Infrastructure Committee to come up with scooter parking solutions.

Well, in many ways, our battle to restore the right of scooters and mopeds to park on city sidewalks without getting ticketed is done. And we lost.

Yesterday I had a meeting with Toronto’s General Manager of Transportation Services, Stephen Buckley, Councillor Josh Matlow, and several city bureaucrats and parking enforcement types. They unveiled to me their proposed recommendations going forward for scooter and moped parking in the city. Nowhere in their plan will scooters and mopeds be able to park on the sidewalks like they used to, on any city sidewalk, like bicycles do, as long as they're not obstructing pedestrian traffic. Those days are gone."



The email then explains the Transportation Services plan again, a plan that has been posted before: 250 parking spots for motorcycles for a metro area of more than 6,000,000 people.

25 designated parking zones on downtown city streets.

Each zone will consist of 10 spots to be used by scooters, mopeds, and motorcycles.

Initially, parking will be free (but pay-parking may come later).

Downtown is classified as Spadina (East) to Jarvis (West) and the lake (South) to Dundas (North).

These designated zones won’t prevent scooter riders from parking on private property (IF they have building owner’s permission) or from parking on the street with cars and other vehicles, like they do now.

That didn't go so well... :(

Full communication was posted here: https://www.change.org/p/toronto-pa...-toronto-sidewalks/u/53bea72784aec80783bdae75
 
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so inside of
Downtown is classified as Spadina (East) to Jarvis (West) and the lake (South) to Dundas (North)
is "designated parking areas only" for "2 wheels" and outside is as it is now? ...free on street?
 
so inside of

is "designated parking areas only" for "2 wheels" and outside is as it is now? ...free on street?

** My interpretation is that it is free on streets anywhere in Toronto, even their classification of "downtown", and it will continue that way.
** This is the free parking: wherever there is a Toronto Parking Authority's green parking meter machine on the sidewalk, and there are parking spaces on the road delimited by painted lines, a motorcycle can park for free (on the roads, not the Green P lots).
** Now, the City will build 250 spaces specifically for bikes, and these spaces will operate for free - FOR NOW.

BUT... when the City decides to charge motorcycles for parking, it is not clear how the enforcement will be done. At that point, only the 250 spaces may be free... who knows?
 
I find it hard to complain about free street parking, just saying.

Free parking is great, the problem is that there are not enough spaces. By allowing scooters to park on the sidewalk (like before), a lot of free space on the road would be made available to fit more motorcycles. Or cars, for that matter.

The guy who sent the email (his name is Matt Faulknor) was trying to get exactly that, get the scooters back on the sidewalk.
 
Thing is that scooter riders have NEVER been permitted to park on sidewalks in Toronto. The bylaw simply wasn't enforced. There has been a misconception, among scooter riders, that they were somehow legally permitted to park on sidewalks and on the boulevard, which is patently and explicitly not the case.
 
I asked a Hornet once and they said as long as they weren't obstructing flow and they were where bicycles "park" they were fine. Maybe they meant they wouldn't enforce.
 
I asked a Hornet once and they said as long as they weren't obstructing flow and they were where bicycles "park" they were fine. Maybe they meant they wouldn't enforce.


There was a tacit agreement that they wouldn't enforce. This is nowhere enshrined in legislation. In fact the opposite is.
 
Thing is that scooter riders have NEVER been permitted to park on sidewalks in Toronto. The bylaw simply wasn't enforced. There has been a misconception, among scooter riders, that they were somehow legally permitted to park on sidewalks and on the boulevard, which is patently and explicitly not the case.

It was permitted.
But it was illegal.

:p
 
It was permitted.
But it was illegal.

:p

A bit different than that: It was illegal but unenforced, barring public complaint. Much like how failure to signal, rolling stops, and oh so many other things seem to be unenforced these days.
 

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