Pay Parking rules are about to get easier for Toronto property owners and managers and there are four main things to consider.
1- Mayor John Tory
Toronto Mayor John Tory has been critical of regulation getting in the way of innovation and customer choice, most notably in the Uber debate. Attempts are already under way to simplify what Mayor Tory recently dubbed the ‘Franken-by-law’ that affects parking among numerous other items.
On May 25, city staff recommended changes to parking regulations that will come before city council at its June 10th meeting. These changes will bring more clarity to which pay parking rules landlords can implement.
2- Parking Rules Need to be Overhauled
One of the recommendations being brought to council is to rescind a bizarre rule that prohibits parking lots from issuing payment requests on parked cars. It is bizarre because it specifically applies to parking lots licensed for the purpose of charging parking fees to the public. Impark, a national parking operator, won a court decision against this by-law almost 10 years ago and continues to issue payment requests in full accordance with the law as do other parking operators such as Kipling Transportation.
However, the Toronto press regularly report on cars getting tagged with bogus parking tickets that demand exorbitant charges. These headlines are fair warning to the public about shady operators, but also result in some drivers believing that there are no consequences to parking on private property without consent. Meanwhile, property managers across the GTA can easily, and legally, have unauthorized cars tagged and towed.
The proposed overhaul of parking regulations will remove confusion, ensure better consumer protection and offer landlords easier use of new parking payment technologies.
3- What Landlords Need to Know
One area of city concern is the number of unlicensed parking lots and their impact on law-abiding properties and businesses. Property owners will be part of the accountability process.
- A new Parking Lot Operator licence will be created and will replace licenses currently in place.
- Property owners will be responsible to ensure their parking lot operators are licensed.
- A property owner operating his or her own commercial parking will be required to obtain a licence.
- Property owners conducting enforcement on their own property will not be subjected to the same requirements that will be applied to enforcement agencies.
4- New Technologies
The rule changes are more compatible to new parking technologies that are low-cost and easy to use. It is cost-effective to control even small parking areas with Pay & Display meters. Parkers can use a mobile pay app like Honkmobile to buy hourly parking using only a smartphone. An app like PayTag+ lets a landlord issue private tags and boosts parking revenue from meters, mobile apps and other systems.
Overall, the proposed regulations should be an improvement for both business and consumers.
