Illegal parking in Toronto will cost you two-and-a-half times more dough as of Friday.
The City of Toronto officially increases the penalty for parking or leaving a motor vehicle on municipal property without consent on December 1.
Those caught parking without a permit on City property will have to pay $75 per infraction, a 150 per cent increase from the previous $30 amount.
A parking ticket fee hike was recommended by Transportation Services in September, urging city council to increase fines to "encourage compliance in purchasing a ticket to park on municipal/private property and discourage the illegal practice of parking or leaving a vehicle on public/private property without consent."
In short, the City believes it can incentivize paid parking by increasing fines for illegal parking, stating that the new fees "better align the penalty amounts relative to parking rates."
That September recommendation to raise fees noted "many instances where motor vehicle owners will park in a municipal or private parking facility and decide that, rather than paying the posted parking rates at a parking kiosk, they would prefer taking their chances with incurring a parking violation notice or avoid a parking violation notice altogether."
"The reason why drivers risk being issued a parking violation notice is because most times the penalty amount is less than what they would be required to pay for parking," the report argued.
More than doubling the penalty is expected to not just cut down on illegal parking, but put additional money in City coffers through higher fees and incentivized paid parking.
The move comes after a report found over 200,000 tickets issued in 2021 and 2022 combined for illegally parking on municipal lots, and almost 700,000 tickets issued for illegally parking in paid lots during the same period.
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