Toronto councillors eye mobile-only parking pilot project, revised fines

Toronto councillors are eyeing a change to how the city charges people for municipal parking, as well as changes to how much people get fined if they violate parking bylaws.

Councillors greenlit a city staff request for a mobile-only parking pilot program during Wednesday's infrastructure and environment committee meeting.

The committee's chair, Coun. Jennifer McKelvie, says paying by mobile is a convenient option that more and more people rely on to navigate the city.

"Most people aren't carrying cash anymore," she said.

In a report earlier this month, the city said transactions on the city's Green P app grew from 49 per cent of all customer transactions when it was introduced in 2016 to over 75 per cent this year, with a total of 1.6 million subscribers. Meanwhile, the report found the trend led to a corresponding decrease in the number of people using traditional pay and display parking machines.

However, some caution against a wide-spread transition to cashless transactions. Adam Rodgers, a resident speaking in front of the committee, said the move can exclude seniors and people in lower-income brackets. 

"There are many groups of folks in our community that rely on cash options to pay and we should keep that in mind whenever doing any mobile-only option," said Rodgers. 

Coun. Josh Matlow (Toronto - St. Paul's) echoed Rodgers' concerns in a letter to the committee. 

"I hope that if you select to move this pilot forward and as we continue to modernize our parking infrastructure, careful steps are taken to ensure that no one is left behind and that a reasonable accommodation is provided," wrote Matlow. 

The pilot project will now go before city council for approval. If approved, 13 out of over 1,000 paid parking spots in the city will be part of the project for up to one year. According to the parameters set by city staff and city councillors, the selected areas must have high Green P app usage, have parking meter equipment nearing end of life that can't be replaced, have a low ratio of parking spots to parking meters, and/or be in the downtown core. 

City staff say people can pay through the app, by text, or by scanning a QR code. They say all locations will be marked by signage, and for the duration of the pilot will be close to traditional payment methods where someone can pay with credit card or with coins if needed.

Revise fines to deter illegal parking, committee says

The committee also directed staff to look into revised penalty amounts for parking tickets and report back to the committee in January.

Currently, a person who doesn't pay for parking or who stays beyond their allotted time only pays $30. City staff say that amount hasn't increased in over a decade. 

Coun. Dianne Saxe (University-Rosedale) moved the motion, saying the current fine is "enormously out of date," especially in comparison to other fines. 

"You pay a fine of over $400 if you're caught getting on the TTC without a ticket," said Saxe. "It's unfair."

The fines are also "completely ineffective" at deterring illegal behaviour, she said, since a fine can often be cheaper than paying for commercial parking or the city's parking meter. And when people do break the law, she says it's important they pay a proportionate fine — especially given the grim state of the city's finances. 

"Allowing the abuse of our public space in this way is self defeating and it's an easy thing to fix," said Saxe.