Toronto enforcement officers issued 15,384 tickets for unauthorized parking in spots designated for people with disabilities over the course of 2021, representing a 55 per cent increase from the previous year’s tally. That’s a much sharper jump than the average across all categories of parking violations, which shows a 5.3 per cent increase in total tickets issued in 2021 compared to 2020.
A new report prepared for Toronto Council’s general government and licensing committee confirms the City collected nearly $10 million more in parking fines last year than had been projected in the 2021 budget. Even so, that $90.2 million in gross revenue lags the pre-pandemic intake.
In 2019, more than 2.2 million violations resulted in $124 million in net revenue, while in 2020, 1,404,734 tickets garnered $79.1 million. Last year, violations bumped up to 1,479,644.
“This increase is believed to be attributed to the lessening of pandemic-related restrictions in 2021 following 2020, which experienced COVID-19 lockdowns and reduced enforcement efforts at different periods during the year,” the report states.
Last year saw a 5 per cent drop in the number of tickets issued for parking on private property, which carries a fine of $30. However, it remained the most common parking violation, with 320,827 tickets equating to nearly 22 per cent of the year’s total. There was also a 5 per cent decrease in the number of tickets issued for parking in a loading zone, which carries a fine of $40 to $100. Those 15,333 infractions represented slightly more than 1 per cent of tickets issued in 2021.
In contrast, there was a 12 per cent increase in tickets issued for parking in a designated fire route, which carries a fine of $250, and a 52 per cent climb in tickets for parking within three metres of a fire hydrant, which carries a $100 fine.
The most dramatic year-over-year increase was seen in the 144 per cent spike in violations for parking on municipal property without consent. Nearly 95,000 tickets, which carry a fine from $30 to $75, were issued in 2021 versus about 39,000 in 2020. This category accounted for 6.4 per cent of all tickets issued last year compared to 2.7 per cent in 2020.
The steepest fines — at $300 to $450 — are issued for unauthorized parking in a spot designated for people with disabilities. Last year, these tickets represented slightly more than 1 per cent of total infractions, up from 0.7 per cent in 2020.
