Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam
Toronto City Hall
100 Queen Street West, Suite A5
Toronto, ON M5H 2N1
Dear Councilor Wong-Tam,
Motorcycle parking in Toronto
Motorcycles have been allowed to park on the street in Toronto for free since 2005(Toronto.ca); the number of motorcycles registered in Toronto has more than doubled since then (theglobe.ca) Soon, there will be a vote to repeal the “free parking for motorcycles” legislation, which I urge you to stand against. Repealing could cost the city $1.4million from the local economy and further crowd Toronto’s streets, by introducing up to an additional 40,000 cars to the roads, replacing the motorcycles that are no longer cost effective to run downtown.
In Toronto, nearly 1.3 million (Canadiangeographic.ca) commute each day, if all the cars were lined up, it would stretch nearly 5,500 kilometers and Toronto only has 10.5 kilometers of street parking. Many vehicles end up in municipal parking, totaling over 37,500 spaces, and the rest end up in private lots or even illegal off street parking. (Greenp.com)
A motorcycle, takes up less than a meter of curb space. Space savings are compounded when they park together. At current ownership levels, motorcycles parking in the city could save 220 kilometers of street parking space.
Motorcycles have benefits over cars. The most popular vehicle in Canada is rated at 18 mpg; the best selling motorcycle in Canada, gets 121 mpg. This means that, at current
