C016-2024

Increased penalties for parking and stopping in bicycle lanes

Expand the Cycling Network and Make It Safe City Council consideration on Feb 7, 2024

Background

At the Active Transportation Advisory Committee Meeting of December 12, 2023, staff were directed to report back to the Committee of Council meeting on January 31, 2024, regarding suggested improvements including and not limited to improved By-law Enforcement and increasing penalties related to parking in designated bicycle lanes. The request was made based on observation from the Committee that cars are often parked illegally in bike lanes, making the bike lanes less usable and the infrastructure less safe. It was noted that often, the same car was observed to be obstructing the bike lane at the same spot day after day.

Enforcement and Public Works are proposing recommendations to strengthen the delivery of bike lane enforcement by increasing penalties. Staff conducted a jurisdictional scan of penalties related to parking and stopping in designated bicycle lanes and found that the City of Brampton was below average. The penalties in local municipalities are listed below:
 City of Toronto - $150
 City of Ottawa - $125
 City of Mississauga - $55
 City of Vaughan - $55
 City of Burlington - $47
 City of Hamilton - $33
Based on this scan, staff are recommending increasing the penalty for stopping and parking in designated bicycle lanes from $35 to $150. to align with the penalties in other larger municipalities, like Toronto and Ottawa and to help discourage this illegal activity that is causing additional traffic safety concerns citywide..

Source: City of Toronto