Motorcycle Parking Fees Recommended without Notice or Public Consultation

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DDean said:
Lets not make this about free parking, lets make it about encouraging commuters to commute with something other than their car, and we can also say TTC is overly congested (which it is) and that also needs relief.

Motorcycles and scooters and ebikes and pedal bikes and walking, all good for Toronto traffic.
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That would be a far better tactic, to discuss how to incentivize people to use something other than a passenger vehicle, rather than, "We want our free parking!" Make it a part of an alternative transportation method plan that includes walking, TTC, car pooling, and bicycles.
 
The City TV report has not called me back, so I called their News Hotline. I briefly described the issue and they asked me to send an e-mail outlining it. I sent the following:

"On November 4th, CityTV aired a piece by Adrian Ghobrial announcing a program to start charging motorcycles for on-street parking with the introduction of pay-by-plate technology. Adrian interviewed Nazzareno Capano, the City's Manager of Transportation Policy and Planning, and Lorne Persiko, the President of the Toronto Parking Authority, who presented this as a forgone conclusion.

http://www.citynews.ca/2014/11/04/city-cracks-down-on-free-motorcycle-parking/

What the piece failed to mention was that City Staff and the TPA have no authority from Council to do this. In fact, Council specifically took away that authority.

Staff presented a report to Committee and Council, which included a recommendation to "maintain the exemption from the requirement to pay until Pay-by-Plate technology can be deployed" On October 8, 2013, Council specifically deleted this provision, and gave no direction to change the 2005 By-law, which allows motorcycles to park for free. Staff were only directed to create designated on-street motorcycle parking spaces on a pilot basis, and to maintain free overnight permit parking for motorcycles.

http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2013.PW25.11

It appears that the story here is not about fees for motorcycle parking, but why staff would announce a program that is in direct violation of the Council directive on this matter. The history of this issue is somewhat convoluted. Please feel free to have a reporter contact me for more details.

Regards,"

Let's see what kind of response I'll get.
 
That's an angle, as is getting political opposition to use anything that increases traffic, which anything that reduces someones motivation to commute on a motorcycle/scooter would (parking fees for example) as an example of a broken Tory promise (already!).

He campaigned on traffic and now he wants to increase it! Fordnation will yell Liar from their post under the bridge and behind the dumpster next to the liquor store.
 
DDean said:
That's an angle, as is getting political opposition to use anything that increases traffic, which anything that reduces someones motivation to commute on a motorcycle/scooter would (parking fees for example) as an example of a broken Tory promise (already!).

He campaigned on traffic and now he wants to increase it! Fordnation will yell Liar from their post under the bridge and behind the dumpster next to the liquor store.
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I would soft-peddle the "broken promise" thing. Tory isn't sworn in until December 2nd, so anything that happens prior to that has nothing really to do with him.
 
Yes, and they said that fees would start about a year from now giving Tory the perfect opportunity to say "I promised to address traffic and Im doing it by reversing an action that was put in motion by the previous administration that would have resulted in increased traffic".

Letting fees be instituted is in violation of the spirit of his platform. Stopping them is doing what he said he would. Seems like a no brainer to me.
 
DDean said:
Yes, and they said that fees would start about a year from now giving Tory the perfect opportunity to say "I promised to address traffic and Im doing it by reversing an action that was put in motion by the previous administration that would have resulted in increased traffic".

Letting fees be instituted is in violation of the spirit of his platform. Stopping them is doing what he said he would. Seems like a no brainer to me.
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I am inclined to agree with you, however the primary focus shouldn't be about taking Tory to task. We should focus the issue on the angle of encouraging alternative means of transportation, and how implementing paid parking for two-wheeled motors is a step in the opposite direction. Perhaps using Tory's platform as further means to getting his attention is appropriate, but the crux of the argument should be in the transportation issue itself.

I was actually interviewed and caught in the pieces broadcast, though the interview was not shown - I only appear in the narrative footage. The questions I were asked focused largely on whether or not I was even aware of the new suggested parking signs and what that could mean for motorists. It was definitely news to me that these were put up, and I have been following the course of events here for the last half-year.

I will happily be sending out some correspondence to promote the cause.
 
Rob MacLennan said:
That would be a far better tactic, to discuss how to incentivize people to use something other than a passenger vehicle, rather than, "We want our free parking!" Make it a part of an alternative transportation method plan that includes walking, TTC, car pooling, and bicycles.
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I agree that the tone of any lobbying should be about providing solutions that have a positive impact on congestion, parking, transit demand and the environment. We don't want to sound like free-loaders for sure :-) But I think we are fair to speak from our own interests as riders. If we extend our message too broadly to say we are advocates of all of the alternatives, we risk getting half of what we ask for (incentives for walking, bicycles, e-bikes) but not the half we care about (motorcycles & scooters) but they can say they met us half way ;-)

I worked for 8 years as an industry lobbyist (digital media & video games) provincially and federally so I learned a few hard lessons along the way.
 
Rob MacLennan said:
I would soft-peddle the "broken promise" thing. Tory isn't sworn in until December 2nd, so anything that happens prior to that has nothing really to do with him.
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Agree 100%. He has no responsibility yet but just needs to be aware that staff may be taking liberties while there is a power vacuum at city hall. (I have had this happen to me once and it was a disaster.)

We need to make Tory our ally and offer him a "smart" solution. What I am trying to do is align with Smart Track TO and make it hard for him not to incorporate this into his Smart plan.
 
DDean said:
Ive had two discussions with my Councillor, Mary Margaret, and she thinks that we should pay for parking. She's not on my side!

And use @johntoryTO to send it to Tory, and all the news people, and competitors, who follow him. Someone may latch onto this and start pointing fingers
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It shouldn't matter what she thinks, she represents you
 
CruisnGrrl said:
It shouldn't matter what she thinks, she represents you
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She represents everyone in the ward. If she's hearing that more people want to charge motorcycles, or hearing almost nothing and left to make up her own mind, then she'll come down on the side of charging. On the other hand if she hears a hundred people saying that they want to continue the free on-street parking she might well think that her job will be on the line, next time around, if she fails to properly represent the will of her constituents.
 
puttockc said:
Not sure if this has been shared yet, it's a good quick read to fill you in from the city's perspective
http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2013/pw/bgrd/backgroundfile-61471.pdf


Sent from my my mobile using a strange app for damaged people
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I don't understand what free pay and display parking has to do with people parking in illegal spots. Ticket those people and actually enforce the bylaw not create new ones. Do they think making people pay is going to make it less likely that 2 wheel vehicles park illegally? It hasn't worked for all the cars I see parked illegally every day.

Also does the city not understand the outrage from car drivers when there are no spots because the 10-20 scooters that used to be spread over sidewalks or wedged into smaller spaces won't happen if motorcycles are expected to pay full fare they will expect full spot. I can just see motorcycles spread out 5 feet apart leaving room for other motorcycles and no room for the cars which have limited parking options as it is. I'm glad I've started to ride my bicycle more and more.
 
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Well I have mentioned that those who continued to behave in an unlawful manner would eventually have an effect on the rest of us.
 
Rob MacLennan said:
Well I have mentioned that those who continued to behave in an unlawful manner would eventually have an effect on the rest of us.
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Logically how does this make sense? Why wouldn't the city ticket the ones parking illegal? $30 ticket or $2 dollar park for the hour. If its the plague that the city makes it out to be then they should make a killing in ticket revenue but they haven't. The issue is enforcement here not free pay and display parking.
 
AdRath said:
Logically how does this make sense? Why wouldn't the city ticket the ones parking illegal? $30 ticket or $2 dollar park for the hour. If its the plague that the city makes it out to be then they should make a killing in ticket revenue but they haven't. The issue is enforcement here not free pay and display parking.
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It makes absolutely no sense, whatsoever, if you're a logical person. Politicians (people, in fact) rarely react with logic. A few bad seeds make them think that we're all going to break the law. A response that I received from Kristyn Wong-Tam implied that free on-street parking promoted illegal parking on the sidewalk. It's like the reaction to being cut off by a SUV; "They're all ********."
 
True it also follows the trend in society "the race to the bottom". I've noticed that trend picking up steam "This group has something you don't you should be upset and demand they don't get it either". I see it all the time when discussing Union vs Private sector. If this was the trend years ago no one would have had benefits because they would be fighting to take things away instead of demand from big corps. Weird. Oh well time to get a coffee and enjoy the sunshine.
 
AdRath said:
True it also follows the trend in society "the race to the bottom". I've noticed that trend picking up steam "This group has something you don't you should be upset and demand they don't get it either". I see it all the time when discussing Union vs Private sector. If this was the trend years ago no one would have had benefits because they would be fighting to take things away instead of demand from big corps. Weird. Oh well time to get a coffee and enjoy the sunshine.
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As someone working in the public sector, whose pension plan is more than adequately funded, I know exactly what you mean.
 
"This would account for approximately 0.5% of total revenue from on-street parking spaces"
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So wait... If i understand, all this talk of making motorcycles pay would account for 0.5% of the whole on-street parking revenue and they want to spend how much money on implementing it again?


This motorcycle ownership trend suggests that potential revenue from motorcycle
parking will increase in the future.
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Theyve seen a huge increase in registrations over the years, partly because of the free parking. Are they expecting the trend to continue if you take away that incentive?
 
LePhillou said:
So wait... If i understand, all this talk of making motorcycles pay would account for 0.5% of the whole on-street parking revenue and they want to spend how much money on implementing it again?

Theyve seen a huge increase in registrations over the years, partly because of the free parking. Are they expecting the trend to continue if you take away that incentive?
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Since these upgrades were coming anyway, the cost would be immaterial. Now they're looking for ways to claw those costs back. The big issues come, as Face has said, from the potential of charging a motorcycle rider the same as a car driver, for substantially less real estate.

What they fail to recognize is that increases in cost of operation force people out of riding. When insurance costs went nuts in the '90s, motorcycle registrations took a nose dive. Industry sales in this Province have taken this long to rebound. The current lowest daily parking rates that I've seen, in the downtown core, are on the order of $12.00 per working day. If we assume as little as a three month riding season, with approximately 22 working days per month, that would be $792.00 additional cost to the rider. That is not insubstantial for people who may well have purchased a specific vehicle in order to save money on both parking and (possibly) gas.
 
Rob MacLennan said:
What they fail to recognize is that increases in cost of operation force people out of riding. When insurance costs went nuts in the '90s, motorcycle registrations took a nose dive.
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You're assuming the municipal and provincial governments care about motorcycles. They don't. Like I keep saying, small drops in a very large bucket, provincial government would be more than happy to ban motorcycles if possible. Ontario and especially the GTA are already the most bike-unfriendly places in all of the Americas.
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