Scooter Parking Laws in Toronto

[joestrummer]

Can anyone tell me what the scooter parking laws in Toronto are?

Can we park on sidewalks?

Can we park for free in parking spots/lots?

[chadman]

All motorcycles and scooters can park metered spots on the street for free but your scooter will be towed (or carried away) if you park there during restricted periods like between 3:30-6:30 etc. If the lots are city owned you can probably park there for free but not the privately run parking lots. I think the city is trying to come up with designated free parking areas for two wheelers around the city.
You can try parking on the sidewalk but its still illegal and theres a pretty good chance you will get a ticket if you get caught.

[davidrally180]

man, I have been leaving mine on the sidewalk for a year and a half in downtown toronto - in the spadina area. right out where it can be seen. no problems. no tickets.

[christine]

What scooter do you have?

I have a Vespa GT200 with a top box and windscreen. It's WAY too big to get away with sidewalk parking. I basically go by motorcycle-type rules, with a few liberties taken at shopping malls with wide, unused sidewalk areas.

[davidrally180]

I've got a Vespa Rally 180. Its big and its orange. Not like any parking nazi wont see it. For some reason they leave it alone. You should at least try it once.

[chadman]

Yeah your'e probably right David. Most of them probably don't bother with scoooters. I just saw a parking cop scratching his head while looking at six vespas parked on the sidewalk in front of Motoretta on Queen in the beach.
He just turned around, ticketed an suv 5 feet from the bikes and walked away.

[christine]

All along Queen street vendors put their products out on the sidewalks in front of their stores. The parking guys was probably trying to figure out if they were "parked" there or just on display.

[noel]

Its good to see this conversation. In Calgary we are about to use T.O. as an example to put pressure on our city council. We have no free parking downtown and with the boom here all the parking lots are being built on. How long have you had free meter parking?

[christine]

We have just acheived the free parking (November I think).

The real reason is because the city has moved away from traditional parking meters to the "pay and display" tickets from a central dispenser. A lot of motorcyclists had to fight their parking tickets because people would take (or the wind would remove) the display tickets.

This cost the city a lot more than it was worth to just allow free parking for motorcycles and scooters.

Parking on sidewalks is being investigated, but eveyone is being pretty cautious. Pedestrian traffic is already hindered in many areas by sidewalk cafes, stores displays, advertising, etc. It would also be difficult to define "blocking pedestrian traffic" if a ticket was issued.

While the fact that motorcycles and scooters are often environment- and congestion- friendly was mentioned, I don't think it was the reason behind council's decision. I think the 'pay and display' was.

Christine

[big]

Motorcycles and Scooters get to park free in metered areas around the city of Toronto. However, not in the Green P (city) Lots. There is an amendment on the table to try and allow that, but the city is hesitant because it would mean restructuring lots to make space for two wheeled parking. In the metered parking situation, you must be no less than 40 degrees from the curb. Basically you can't take up space by parking parallel to the curb. parking on side walks is an offense for both Scooters and Motorcycles. The fact that some of you have got away with it is suprising. The only vehicle allowed on the side walk would be a moped. If it has pedals, they classify it as a bicycle and it can occupy any space alotted for them, including bicycle racks.