Dear Toronto City Council
I would like to address the issue of motorcycle parking in the city of Toronto, its cost to the city, its users, and other impacts it has. Everyday, the city of Toronto gains and loses more than the population of Miami, Florida due to people commuting in and out of the city. The influx of commuters during the day is only a part of the massive migration that Toronto goes through. More than the population of San Francisco, comparatively speaking, moves from the vast borders of Toronto to the downtown core of the city, and 4 out of 5 commuters drive.
In late 2005, The City Council of Toronto amended by laws to allow motorcycles to park for free on Toronto streets. The Toronto City Council has recently introduced new legislation to repeal this legislation, making very public it’s intention to create separate spaces for motorcycles. This would be detrimental to the local Toronto economy and the environment, directly effecting air quality in the downtown core. A great number of motorcyclists have spoken out about the parking fee change, claiming that if they are charged for parking, the cost savings will diminish to the point they will drive their much more convenient car.
Every day in Canada, 15.4 Million people commute to work. Of all of those commuters 11.6 Million of them drive to and park in city centers. In Toronto’s case, with nearly 1.3 million people going to work each day, it means that, if all vehicles were average length (averaged based on 2010 Calgary parking study) and were lined up end to end, with just enough space between them to park, it would stretch nearly 5,500 Kilometers. This is a staggering number, because Toronto only has 10.5 kilometers of public street parking space. When the journey comes to an end, many of these vehicles end up in Municipal parking, totalling over 37,500 spaces; the rest end up in private lots or even illegal off street parking.
The message all this sends is that Toronto congestion cannot get better without some drastic change. Motorcycles originally became free to park on the street because of their environmental benefits, small space requirements and the difficulty is displaying a “Pay-and-Display” ticket, without the ticket being stolen. Since 2005 Motorcycle ridership has increased year-over-year to it’s current high of 2.7% of registered vehicles. The majority of motorcyclists also owning cars and having the option brings us to nearly 40,000 potential motorcycle commuters.
A full size motorcycle, parked carefully, takes up less than a meter of horizontal curb space. The space savings are compounded when a group of them park together, fitting in so as to allow a much space as possible for others to park. Since a motorcycle takes up less space than a car, at current ownership levels motorcycles parking in the city could save up to 220 Kilometers of street parking space.
Motorcycles have many benefits over cars. The most popular selling vehicle in Canada for the last five years gets, at best, 18 mpg (15L/100km); the best selling motorcycles in Canada, one light commuter and one aggressive sport bike, get 121 mpg (1.9L/100KM) and 65 mpg (3.6L/100KM) respectively. All these comparisons and statistics mean that, at current ownership levels, motorcycles save 960,000 Liters of gas from being burnt up into out air, and save up to $1,400,000 to re-allocate into our local economy (Number of Liters saved multiplied by summer gas prices 2014).
So Motorcycle save parking space, making the core more efficient, allowing more access to local businesses, they save money they their owners can spend in the local economy and they save the air we all share and breath. Repealing Toronto’s current parking legislation would be a massive step backward and a very short sighted, ill-conceived move benefitting only the ego’s of the legislators and for only a short time.
