Toronto drivers blocked streetcar tracks over 300 times in just 11 days this winter
If a $500 ticket won’t deter them, what will?
It’s an all-too-common Toronto winter nuisance: your streetcar suddenly stops and can’t move any further because an inconsiderate driver parked too close to the tracks.
The city seems to have increased the amount of signage alerting drivers to imminent snow removal along busy streets, which should offer a reminder to not park where snowbanks may push vehicles into the streetcar’s path. The Green P app doesn’t let drivers pay to park along snow routes—an error message pops up telling them to move. (Parking along snow routes during major snowstorm condition declarations is prohibited, and during these, parking cannot be paid for using pay-and-display machines either.)
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Despite these efforts, Toronto Today has reported that parked vehicles forced streetcars to stop moving 308 times between January 25—the date of the recent record-breaking snowstorm—and February 4.
“We remind anyone parking on roads with streetcar tracks to be mindful of where they are in relation to tracks,” a TTC spokesperson told the publication. “Even a car briefly stopped on tracks blocks our service and inconveniences hundreds of customers.”
Last November, city council adopted a motion to issue $500 tickets to drivers parked along designated snow routes, up from the previous fine of $200. If a $500 ticket doesn’t stop people from blocking the streetcar, what amount will, and can we make it that from now on?
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Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
