Re: City council voting on getting rid of free parking for motorcycles today
http://www.wheels.ca/article/801532
[h=1]Two-wheeler parking payments are short-sighted[/h]
David Cooper/DAVID COOPER / TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO
Motorcycles are parked on the north side of Front street near Bay St.
Steve Bond
SPECIAL TO THE STAR
This month, Toronto City Council voted 28-2 to review the issue of free parking at pay-and-display spots for motorcycles on city streets, with the results due in February.
Since 2006, motorcycles and scooters have been exempt from parking levies in the Big Smoke, but if budget chief Mike Del Grande and Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam have their way, that practice will end.
Del Grande said when he was going through the budget that, “there are all kinds of freebies that still exist.”
Freebies? I guess he’s not familiar with the term “incentive.” It’s doubtful that either of the interested parties read Wheels (which is an enthusiast’s publication), but if someone could pass this along, “incentive” means “something that tends to incite to action or greater effort, as a reward offered for increased productivity.”
It’s the same as stores absorbing the sales tax, or promoting Boxing Day Sales where prices are chopped significantly — they’re both types of incentives to get people in the door, and the reward is increased sales for the retailers.
In this case, the incentive is that motorcycles and scooters don’t pay for parking downtown. The reward is less congestion on city streets, less fossil fuel consumed and a smaller carbon footprint.
Seems to be a fairly high reward for very little expenditure.
Three or four motorcycles can easily park in the space reserved for one vehicle and any motorcycle will take up less space on the road than even the smallest car.
Del Grande says he doesn’t even know how much the city is “losing” by allowing motorcycles to park for free. In an statement, he said, “Even if it’s a dollar, it’s a dollar that should go into city coffers.”
Brilliant. We don’t know how much more we’ll be taking in, but let’s add to congestion and emissions and find out.
So for five, going on six years now, the City of Toronto has taken a giant, cost-effective, proactive step in alleviating traffic and pollution by promoting motorcycles, scooters and bicycles as the vehicle of choice in the city. And now because it’s working, they’re going to stop it.
This is the same type of thinking that hopes for increased TTC ridership, while raising fares and cutting routes.
Councillors Adam Vaughan and Joe Mihivec were the only two to vote against having the review. Vaughan said this is just another cash grab by the Ford administration, that won’t help ease congestion.
Part of the issue is the lack of a secure, weather-proof location on two-wheelers to affix the pay-and-display receipt. In a CBC interview, Del Grande was asked directly how a motorcyclist should affix this tag and replied, “There’s ways.” Succinct, but not too informative.
In a CP24 interview, Wong-Tam commented that it also “has a lot to do with public safety. I’ve seen 750cc and 1200cc motorcycles roll onto the sidewalk while the engine is still on.”
But parking on the sidewalk is already illegal and has nothing to do with free on-street parking. If council wants to generate revenue, how about targeting the riders who are abusing the system and illegally parking on sidewalks?
I’m sure there are many ways to generate more revenue or cut costs in the City of Toronto, but eliminating free motorcycle parking seems to have more drawbacks than tangible benefits.
Here’s one idea: apply parking fees proportional to the size of the vehicle. Motorcycles and scooters park for free, small cars and hybrids $2, while pickup trucks, SUVs and minivans pay $10. If they really want to eliminate congestion while boosting revenue, this would be a good first step, seeing as the larger vehicles obviously take up the most space while getting the worst fuel consumption.
While you’re at it, councillors, you should take a look at eliminating those larger, blue parking spots with wheelchairs painted on them. By combining two of those spaces, you could get three “regular” spots and stop more “freebies” at the same time.
You said it yourself: “Every dollar counts.”
