I recently got this excellent question about parking a cargo bike on a residential street's parking.
Hi,
My primary source of transportation is a bakfiats, and I've just moved to a new house where I don't have parking for it, and I've been parking it on the street (the back wheel has a wheel lock) during the day, then my husband helps me carry it up on to our front yard at night (because permit parking starts at midnight). I've just had a neighbour come and complain that I can't park a bike on the street. Do you happen to know anything about bylaws that would hinder a bike from being parked on the street during the day if no permit is required?
Thanks,
Angelique
Angelique told me that she had also followed up with Councillor Paula Fletcher's office and her assistant Erica Wood investigated:
Dear Angelique,
This has proved to be quite an interesting question that bounced from Permit Parking to Transportation Services to the Cycling division. As you can see in the response below, Jacquelyn Hawyard Gulati of the Cycling Infrastructure & Programs division has indicated that bike parking is legal when the bicycle is parked parallel to the curb.
I hope this is helpful to you.
Sincerely,
Erica
Jacquelyn said that Chapter 950 of the Municipal Code actually does allow "bicycles to be parked on the street, parallel to the curb". Section 950-201 B:
"No person shall leave a bicycle on a highway except in such a manner as to cause the least possible obstruction to pedestrian or vehicular traffic."
Now we know. Thank you Angelique for raising the question!
So, in terms of getting a permit, it would exclude bicycles under Chapter 925-4 D but Angelique was just hoping to park her bike during the non-permit hours. So looks like we're free to park where we want during those open times.
Mind you, it's still annoying that we can't just purchase a parking permit for our bicycles. Or even better, a permit to place a semi-moveable bike rack next to the curb so we can lock up a few bikes.
Comments
W. K. Lis
I would think a bicycle does
Mon, 07/20/2015 - 16:04I would think a bicycle does not need a permit to park overnight. Other vehicles that do not need permits include: campers, camper-trailers, recreational vehicles, motor homes, trailers, boats or other
recreational vehicles mounted on trailers.
I think that permits would be required for motor vehicles. Since a bicycle is not a motor vehicle, it can be parked on the street overnight. A bicycle is however a vehicle.
herb
The second link specifies
Mon, 07/20/2015 - 16:29The second link specifies which vehicles are allowed to get permits. I don't think we can read it as allowing trailers, boats, etc to park. Those cargo containers one can rent need to get special permits to be placed on the street. So I would assume that the system is not set up to be permissive if they're not motorized. Sadly.
Philip Kremer (not verified)
In reply to W.K. Lis: Toronto
Thu, 07/23/2015 - 13:34In reply to W.K. Lis:
Toronto Municipal Code 925-5, N(1). "During the time period set out adjacent to the name of the road in the Schedule A to this chapter, no person shall park any vehicle in a location designated for permit parking, unless the person is the holder of a valid permit."
So it seems that you cannot park a cargo bike overnight in a permit-parking area. There is a question of how this would be enforced: they could give you a ticket, I suppose, though they wouldn't know who owns the vehicle. The same would be the case for an unlicensed car or ATV or something.
I've been in touch with a number of City Councillors about this, since I own a cargo bike. The most responsive offices were the offices of Councillors Layton, Bailao, and Mihevc. Bailao's consituency assistant wrote, "Councillor Bailão has asked that I follow up with you. Your email is timely as we have been working to introduce a pilot project that would accommodate parking for cargo trikes. I would like to let you know that a request has been made to Transportation Services, asking them to explore the possibility for a pilot project for cargo trike parking. We will be in touch as soon as we hear back from staff on the feasibility of this pilot project."
I urge anyone interested in this to contact their City Councillor, and perhaps other City Councillors they think would be sympathetic.