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Motorcycle Parking Fees Recommended without Notice or Public Consultation

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I have news:
Thank you for taking the time to write to Councillor Fletcher regarding proposed by-law changes affecting motorcycle parking. Paula shares your concerns. Certainly consultation with motorcycle users would be a minimum requirement before any changes and Paula will be doing her best to protect motorcycle and scooter parking in our city for all the reasons you have mentioned.

Sincerely,


Richard Decter
Assistant to Councillor Paula Fletcher
416-392-4060


Um. I wonder how much the pilot will cost, before consultation that it is even a valid avenue to be considering, has been discussed.
 
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oh-so-qt said:
I have news:
Thank you for taking the time to write to Councillor Fletcher regarding proposed by-law changes affecting motorcycle parking. Paula shares your concerns. Certainly consultation with motorcycle users would be a minimum requirement before any changes and Paula will be doing her best to protect motorcycle and scooter parking in our city for all the reasons you have mentioned.

Sincerely,


Richard Decter
Assistant to Councillor Paula Fletcher
416-392-4060
Click to expand...

20090828-good-news-everyone.jpg
 
oh-so-qt said:
I have news:
Thank you for taking the time to write to Councillor Fletcher regarding proposed by-law changes affecting motorcycle parking. Paula shares your concerns. Certainly consultation with motorcycle users would be a minimum requirement before any changes and Paula will be doing her best to protect motorcycle and scooter parking in our city for all the reasons you have mentioned.
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Yups :) that sounds promissing
 
Face said:
Good News!

Councillor Matlow's office has just advised me that he is willing to support us and move an amendment at City Council requesting additional consultation with the riding community. If you are in his ward http://www.toronto.ca/wardprofiles/pdf/map-ward22.pdf , please e-mail him with a "thank you"! If you are in any other ward, please encourage your Councillor to support his amendment.
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Will do.
 
So we are partially to where we need to be to start meaningful discussions with the City. We have Councillor Matlow prepared to move the amendment requesting consultation, and we have a number of Councillors who have expressed support. On October 8th the item, which is item PW25.11 on the Report from Public Works and Infrastructure Committee, will be held (most likely by Councillor Matlow), and he will move the amendment. We will need a majority of Councillors (23 if everyone shows up) to support the amendment, so its important that we keep spreading the word and have more and more people e-mail their Councillors. It is also important that we have as many recognisable riders (bring your helmet & gear) as possible sitting in the audience at Council on Oct 8th at 9:30 am. That way Councillors who haven't been contacted directly, or are undecided, will see that it is an issue that has developed a higher level of public interest. Supporting an amendment for public consultation usually isn't controversial, and having an interested audience will definitely help encourage a positive vote from some Councillors who otherwise wouldn't care.

Once the amended recommendations are passed (assuming they are), we can then get down to discussions with staff about the meat of the issues, but we need to get the mandate to have those discussions first. That's what this work leading up to October 8th is all about.
 
I booked the day off work. I'll be there about 9:15, if you see me roaming the halls be sure to point me in the right direction!
 
Update:

The Motorcycle Confederation of Canada is getting involved, and is preparing something to be submitted to Council. I've put them in touch with Councillor Matlow's office to coordinate on his proposed amendment. MCC's letter will expand on the issues and recommendations in the draft motion I posted earlier.

Their timing is great, as this is setting up as a perfect transition to see things through to the recommendations that we need to see. Unfortunately I won't be able to be at Council on the 8th. I'm leaving this evening for a holiday out of the country. That's one of the reasons why I've been working as hard as I have to get things coordinated early. I wish I could be there to meet everyone that has stepped up to help on this, but I'm sure we'll get a chance to meet once the consultation starts. Things are coming together well, so I'm expecting a successful outcome at Council. Just make sure to keep getting the word out, and get as many people to the Council meeting as possible. Damn, I wish I could be there!
 
I've got the 8th off anyway, so unless something explodes on me, I should be able to come down too.

Watching sausages being made is always fun :D
 
If bikes pay the same as cars, then i hope every biker will park and take the same amount of space a car would.

Emailed my ward btw. I don't see how this would be a greeen tomorrow. Every biker will just, as everyone has already said, grab a cage and all in for traffic congestion and co2
 
I've been exchanging the emails with Motorcyclists Confederation of Canada
Here is what they are doing:

The Motorcyclists Confederation of Canada (MCC) has taken an active role in
facilitating a grassroots advocacy campaign involving the Ontario Road
Riders Association (ORRA), the Ontario Federation of Trail Riders (OFTR),
and other regional organizations and activists. This group has put together
call to action document, which will be published over the weekend. The
group is actively reaching out to city councillors and will attend the
scheduled council committee meeting scheduled for Tuesday, October 8th. For
more information, contact daniel@motorcycling.ca.
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I don't have a strong opinion on this issue, but I would like to hear the beat arguments against charging parking fees to bikes (or in favour of, if such views exist here). "Sell" me on the need to fight this.
I ride downtown sometimes and enjoy the free parking, but paying wouldn't upset me any more than it does when I have my car.
The way I see it at the moment is that a system to charge bikes may cost the city money or earn it money. It'd be a close call, maybe a wash. Likewise, reduced m/c use in the city could have a slightly detrimental or beneficial effect on overall traffic. Again, almost a wash IMO.
I'm not trying to be a s* disturber, it's an honest request.
 
fastar1 said:
I don't have a strong opinion on this issue, but I would like to hear the beat arguments against charging parking fees to bikes (or in favour of, if such views exist here). "Sell" me on the need to fight this.
I ride downtown sometimes and enjoy the free parking, but paying wouldn't upset me any more than it does when I have my car.
The way I see it at the moment is that a system to charge bikes may cost the city money or earn it money. It'd be a close call, maybe a wash. Likewise, reduced m/c use in the city could have a slightly detrimental or beneficial effect on overall traffic. Again, almost a wash IMO.
I'm not trying to be a s* disturber, it's an honest request.
Click to expand...

Short practical answer, beyond all the reasons why bikes are good for the city covered in many posts.

Before 2005 the system was not fair to bikes. Bikes were charged the same as cars but took up 1/4 the space. Pay & Display slips were getting stolen off bikes or lost & riders would have to prove that they bought a ticket or face fines.

After 2005, riders got a break with free parking, which the City justified because of improved efficiency etc & negligible loss in revenue. The net benefit to the industry was significant. A doubling of sales since free parking was introduced.

Now we will be in an unfair situation again if we don't fight this. Only 300 spots for bikes across the entire City will get reduced rates that may (25 percent) or may not (50 percent) reflect the amount of space a bike takes. It appears that these spaces will have dedicated machines set at lower rates. It isn't clear in the report, but it looks like the remainder of all street spaces throughout the City will either not allow bikes, or will charge bikes at the same rate as cars. Both would be unfair to riders, one would make things almost impossible. Getting one of the 300 space would be like winning the lottery! The sidewalk parking issue would be made much worse!

The only way to charge & be fair would be for the City to ensure that all machines can distinguish between motorcycle & car plates, and would charge motorcycles a fair (25 percent or less) rate. I suspect that the small increase in revenue would not offset the significant increase in cost of implementing these more complex & expensive machines throughout the City.

At the end of the day, the best thing would be to maintain the status quo. I only hope that Councillor Matlow's motion for consultation gets passed, and we can convince the City of this through that consultation process.
 
I hope that the weather will be cooperative on Tuesday:notworthy:

I have a question btw, why the question of so-far-legal street parking is being mixed up with a question of illegal sidewalk parking?
Those who breaks existing the rules and parks on sidewalks will with no doubt continue breaking any further rules though...
 
Not a ton of solid argument here, including the submission to council from the MMIC which is pretty weak.
http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2013/cc/comm/communicationfile-40218.pdf

In searching I found this, which seriously adds some weight to the argument in favor of free parking;
http://www.acem.eu/index.php/media-...re-powered-two-wheelers-would-ease-congestion

Also, I find it strange that the city's proposal is able to anticipate costs to purchase and maintain an alternative ticketing system, even though it hasn't been stipulated yet what exactly that system will be.
http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2013.PW25.11

So I'm definitely on board, at least for an expanded discussion of the actual costs/benefits. On the surface it looks like the usual thoughtless knee-jerk reaction from this administration against anything that isn't cars.
 
slogan said:
I hope that the weather will be cooperative on Tuesday:notworthy:

I have a question btw, why the question of so-far-legal street parking is being mixed up with a question of illegal sidewalk parking?
Those who breaks existing the rules and parks on sidewalks will with no doubt continue breaking any further rules though...
Click to expand...

Some scooter riders I spoke with weren't aware that sidewalk parking wasn't legal because it wasn't being enforced for a while & because of the confusion with ebikes. They see it as a double hit. Also if riders aren't allowed, or will have to pay full fare to park at many places they want to go, some may be tempted by that available bit of sidewalk. Especially if they think they're now being screwed by the City.
 
Pfft
just get all the scooters and bikers to clog up traffic, keep circling the building and the adjacent area to bring everything to a slow down. wear signs that say the X made me do this. :)
 
Just got a responce from Josh Matlow's office.

Dear *********,

Councillor Matlow has read your message and asked me to reply personally. He deeply appreciates your support! It is important to him to encourage motorcycle, scooter, and moped riding because it helps to reduce gridlock and keep our City moving.

Sincerely,
Brent



Brent Gilliard
Special Assistant to Councillor Matlow
Policy, Legislation, and Planning
Tel: (416) 338-5253 :: Fax: (416) 392-0124
100 Queen St. W Suite A17 :: Toronto, Ontario :: M5H 2N2
City of Toronto, Ward 22 St. Paul's
www.joshmatlow.ca
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