City of Toronto cancels 880,000 unpaid parking tickets

[black13]

Toronto drivers that were issued around 880,000 parking tickets are getting off scot-free after their cases dragged on too long.

The city’s decision to withdraw the tickets caught politicians off guard, with Mayor John Tory warning that people not being held to account “makes a mockery of the parking laws.” And it laid bare how the courts had for years been unable to keep up with the number of drivers wanting to fight tickets.

The tickets were quietly pulled on Friday, primarily to abide by Charter requirements for a trial within a reasonable time. Ironically, the city stands to save money through the decision, arguing it would have cost more to go after these drivers than the tickets were likely to have generated in revenue.

The city moved to a fixed-fine system in 2014, meaning people can no longer hope for a reduction in court. But the backlog wiped out last week shines a spotlight on the perverse math of the old system, in which Toronto expected to lose money when people issued tickets with small fines chose to fight in court.

Using historic assumptions about conviction rates and the chances of the fines being reduced, the city believes it would have grossed an average of not quite $23 on each of the withdrawn tickets. However, Toronto would have been out about $26 per ticket in court costs.

I'm sure a lot of people are happy in Toronto today

[Sugarphreak]

...

[adamc]

Heard a story about how they couldn't prosecute or tow Out of province license plates for parking violations, some realtors were getting Quebec plates and then racking up thousands in "free" parking.

This finally changed recently.

[Xtrema]

So raise the fine to double of daily parking rate?

[killramos]

Originally posted by Sugarphreak
Makes sense to do that if it is costing more than they would ever hope to recoup

Also... 23$ tickets! That is less than what I pay for parking downtown :eek:

CoC parking tickets aren't really that high either. Last time i got a park plus fine it was 15 dollars over the amount for actually paying to park.

IE 40 dollar ticket in a 25 dollar lot.

Though seriously with how quickly they can run through parking tickets in court ( max of 10 minutes per ticket). How much are they paying judges in traffic court that excusing the tickets made financial sense?

Even if they are only doing 6 an hour that's 138 dollars an hour they are gleaning...

So unless traffic court judges are making north of 290k a year this seems like a bad idea.

[speedog]

There's probably more costs involved than just the judge's actual wages.

[Feruk]

Originally posted by killramos
Though seriously with how quickly they can run through parking tickets in court ( max of 10 minutes per ticket). How much are they paying judges in traffic court that excusing the tickets made financial sense?
Last parking ticket I fought took about 30 minutes. I lost and paid my $40 (or whatever it was). I heard court time in Calgary costs $1,200/hour, which means my case alone netted the city -$560.

[killramos]

Originally posted by Feruk

Last parking ticket I fought took about 30 minutes. I lost and paid my $40 (or whatever it was). I heard court time in Calgary costs $1,200/hour, which means my case alone netted the city -$560.

Sounds like a joke. i guess there must be a fair amount of clerical work for each cases as well or something.

I guess thats the cost of due process...

[Feruk]

Well imagine you're doing 10 cases in the morning... you've gotta pay hourly wages to all 10 cops who show up and sit there waiting for their case, judge, clerk, defense lawyer. On top, you've gotta pay for everything associated with the room (power/heat/other operating costs). It's a lot of people and not cheap.

[adamc]

Calgary parking tickets end up being about $90 if you ignore them. Ask me how I know. :)