Ottawa’s transit strike created one growth market in the midst of a quickly deflating economy – parking tickets.
With more residents forced to drive downtown, the city was issuing significantly more parking tickets during the lengthy transit strike, which ended Jan. 29 but continues to have an effect on most bus routes.
Ottawa Parking Services manager Troy Leeson says that at this time of year the city would usually issue approximately 800 parking tickets a day. But given the transit strike, he says, the city issued between 1,100 and 1,200 a day, a 34-per-cent increase.
Leeson says parking has been causing the most problems on Elgin, O’Connor, Metcalfe and Queen streets. “If even one car is parked on a block it can cause major traffic problems, it puts everyone on the street into one lane which really slows things down,” says Leeson.
Somerset Coun. Diane Holmes agrees parking was a problem during the strike. She says problems arise from people who would normally take the bus who aren’t familiar with the parking rules downtown.
With the increase in tickets issued, Holmes admits the city might bring in more money than usual because of the transit strike. However, she says the city has had to incur expenses because of the strike as well. The city spent close to $700,000 over the past month on emergency services for residents such as taxi chits for needy residents to get to medical appointments and to get groceries.
Holmes says that if the city makes a net profit from parking tickets and operational savings, it will be re-invested in the transit system.
“We have to give people free bus passes and tickets, and we’ll need to invest in public education so that we can get our riders back.”
While the city was issuing more tickets, Holmes says there were more residents challenging them either in court or with a justice of the peace. She says residents can either challenge their ticket at city hall or at the court house on Constellation Crescent, and encourages them to do so.
But for some, the trip to the courthouse isn’t worth it. Akel Zahalan’s 25-year-old son attends the University of Ottawa and recieved four parking tickets ranging from $40 to $80 during the strike. Zahalan says the university told students where they could park, but when his son parked there he was repeatedly ticketed.
“The city is trying to grab any money they can from anybody,” says Zahalan.
But he says he doesn’t plan to fight his son’s tickets: “We’ll end up paying anyways, why waste a day in court?”