When you can’t find a place to park on your street, it’s tempting to question whether those other cars should be there.
But in Toronto, at least, there are no rules that limit the number of cars from one house that can park on the street, the city said.
“There are no limits per household and that’s done by design,” said Michael Cude, a supervisor of permit parking for the City of Toronto. “You can have one property that has multiple dwellings – you might have a duplex.”
On streets without permit parking in Toronto, the only restriction on street parking, unless otherwise posted, is a three-hour limit, Cude said.
“On the highway, where there’s that sign that says ‘Welcome to Toronto’ there’s another sign that says the parking limit is three hours,” he said. “People might not notice it.”
In areas with permit parking, which is usually neighbourhoods where driveways and garages aren’t common, there’s still a three-hour limit for cars without permits. The three-hour limit doesn’t apply to cars with permits for that area.
During parking permit hours – which vary by street and neighbourhood – only cars with permits for that area can park there, period, Cude said. “[Generally], it’s an overnight program.”
But, subject to availability for the area, there are no limits on the number of permits per household. In Toronto, each permit is associated with a specific car and licence plate – so you can’t lend your permit to someone else to use for their car, Cude said.
The permit for the first car from a household costs $20 a month. Additional permits cost $62. However, if you have parking on your property (for instance, in a garage or driveway) but want to park on the street, you have to pay the highest rate of $85 a month.
“Only about 1 per cent of people have permits for more than one vehicle,” he said.
So, if there’s a house on the street with multiple cars, they get to park on the street – if they can find a spot.
If they don’t have a permit, they’re limited to three hours and you could call to complain, Cude said.
Another limit on permit parking is that you can’t stay parked in the same spot for more than seven days in a row.
Parking stalled?
Getting a permit can take a while.
In Toronto, there are 80,000 available permit parking spaces and 55,000 active permit holders, Cude said.
Some permits allow you to park on a specific street, others are for a specific area of a few blocks. But some neighbourhoods have more permit holders than spaces. For instance, one street in East York has 21 spaces but 52 permits issued.
Because of that, many neighbourhoods have waiting lists for permits.
“A street or area can be at capacity for quite some time – anywhere for one to 10 years,” Cude said, adding that the average wait is three to five years. The city receives about $22-million a year from on-street permits.
So is parking demand growing as the city’s population grows?
“Surprisingly, the demand has been quite consistent,” Cude said. “And that’s been true for the 15 years I’ve been here.”
But there are ways to limit new permits. For instance, when new condos get built in established neighbourhoods with permit parking, their residents may not be allowed to apply for street parking permits.
That’s decided neighbourhood by neighbourhood, Cude said.
Limits in other cities
Generally in towns and cities across Canada that don’t require permits to park, there are no limits on the number of vehicles that people from one house can park on the street.
But some cities with permit parking do have limits on the number of permits that can be issued per house.
For example, Halifax allows only two permits per house – the first one is $75 a year and the second is $175.
“We’ve developed this program in such a way that acknowledges the fact that you may have purchased a residence likely at a reduced price that doesn’t have a driveway – and so we will accommodate you on the street, but it’ll come at a price,” said Victoria Horne, the director of parking services with the City of Halifax. “It’s meant to have residents pause and say: ‘Do I need two vehicles or more?’”
Some areas of Vancouver only allow two permits per house. Calgary and Winnipeg allow three permits per house.
In Montreal, some boroughs limit the number of vehicle permits per house and others don’t. For instance, Lachine has a limit of two permits per house – but Le Plateau-Mont-Royal, a densely populated area, has no limits. Also, some boroughs base parking fees on the size of a car’s engine – so they charge more for big gas-powered SUVs than for electric cars or compact vehicles. “Some boroughs are revising their parking permit management policies in order to encourage the population to limit their car ownership,” Hugo Bourgoin, a spokesman for the City of Montreal, said in an e-mail translated from French. “[Also], the city supports, among other things, the development of car-sharing services to meet occasional needs for motorized travel while taking up less road space than a personal vehicle.”
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