Naz Capano returned my call today, and we discussed the meeting they had with TPA.
Charging for parking
TPA is planning on reporting in the Fall of 2015 about ways to implement charging for street parking for motorcycles. It would not be financially viable to retrofit every on-street machine for a 2-fare structure, so they are looking at apps and texting for pay-by-plate and even some form of harness to secure a pay-and-display ticket. They are talking about 1/4 the rate for cars. I asked about public consultation , and Naz's first response was the standard deputation process for any report to Committee. But as the discussion went on, we talked more about a process of meetings inviting people who have expressed interest with the City, so that staff could hear actual users reactions to different options. If they try to avoid it, all that will happen is that Committee will send them back to do it anyway when a large group of riders show up to complain about a lack of consultation.
Btw Sikter, your petition is having an effect. Naz got a bunch of names in the beginning, and is getting a few more every week. If you haven't already signed, here's the link.
https://www.change.org/p/john-tory-please-maintain-free-motorcycle-parking-in-toronto
One of the issues the TPA has is with motorcycles parking all day. The intention is that street spaces are meant to be short term (most streets are signed with a 2-hour limit), and the concern is that all day parkers are making it more difficult for short term (motorcycle or car) parkers to find spaces. I raised the point that a number of parking garages don't allow motorcycles, so long term motorcycle parking options are difficult to find. I also noted that one of the benefits of a parking app was the ability to extend pay-by-plate parking remotely from the app, which would be counter productive to enforcing short term limits.
I also raised the question about instituting special procedures for riders, as a way around the unjustifiably large cost of making the street machines work fairly for both riders and drivers. Given the benefits to the City of motorcycle vs car commuting, they shouldn't be making it more difficult for riders to pay.
By the end of the discussion, we got back to the question about whether the TPA and/or Works staff actually have a mandate to proceed with charging motorcycles, or if that was taken away when Council changed the recommendation back in October 2013. As the TPA seems bound and determined to find some way to charge riders, I told Naz that I would be following up with the City Manager about the mandate issue in the new year. There seems to be some confusion about rolls as TPA is normally the operations side of things, and Policy comes from City Works and Transportation staff.
Dedicated parking spaces
Naz and his staff will continue to watch the dedicated parking spaces, and will be reporting at some point about bringing forward a by-law which will allow them to enforce penalties against cars that uses these areas. They will even be watching through the winter to see how much motorcycle use they get. Depending on the results, they could look at year round dedication, or just between certain months. He mentioned that Montreal's dedicated spaces are from April 1st to October 31st.
