Toronto poised to pilot parking machine removal as more users turn to app

The City of Toronto is reviewing whether it is worth keeping its 2,700 on-street parking metres as drivers increasingly turn to the mobile app to process their payments. (CTV News Toronto)

The City of Toronto is reviewing whether it is worth keeping its 2,700 on-street parking meters as drivers increasingly turn to the mobile app to process their payments.

In a report set to be considered by the infrastructure committee next week, transportation services staff suggest a one-year pilot of “mobile-only zones” in the downtown core — where street spots can be paid for only through the Green P app, text-to-pay or a QR code.

“There are a lot of benefits to it,” Deputy Mayor Jennifer McKelvie, who chairs the committee, told CTV News Toronto Friday. “You don’t need to get out of your car, climb a snowbank, go over and pay, then come back and put it in your car. You can walk and pay as you go, if you’re running late.”

When the Toronto Parking Authority introduced the mobile Green P app in 2016, it accounted for fewer than half of transactions. Now, 75 per cent of customer payments are processed through the app, and staff expect the figure to climb to 85 per cent by the end of 2025.

As a result, “a number of its on-street P&D parking machines are not generating sufficient revenue to offset operational and capital costs,” the report reads.

Staff suggest piloting 13 mobile-only zones downtown, in locations with high uptake for the app, a low number of parking stalls per machine, and meters too old to be serviced.

“Given we are now entering an age where we can literally walk into the subway by paying on our watches, I think it’s reasonable to always review how we can modernize and use technology better,” Coun. Josh Matlow told CTV News Toronto.

“That being said though—I would hope that this pilot addresses people who are not tethered to their smartphones, or who may not be technologically savvy.”

Once pilot data is collected, the staff report acknowledges that an in-depth examination of the implications of removing the machines will be necessary. The cities of Ajax, Winnipeg, Buffalo, and Miami have also implemented the model successfully, it notes.

Reducing the reliance on parking equipment would also serve to generate larger parking profits for the city, the report says.

City council will consider the pilot in October.