Best way to stop vehicles parking illegally during rush hour?

[Admiral Beez]

I'm tired of seeing courier trucks, shred-it trucks and private vehicles blocking the roads during rush hour. Recent city hall proposals to tackle this have involved raising the ticket price, but I don't think that will work, since the commercial vehicles simply accept the fines as a cost of business, while private cars are rarely caught by parking enforcement during their dash ins to Starbucks or drycleaners, etc. Special curb cut outs or spots for couriers won't work, since there are thousands of businesses that would need such spots along rush hour routes.

My solution is to follow the UK, and clamp vehicles that park in these zones. Commercial vehicles would have to pay $500 for first offense, plus $200 de-clamping fee. Best of all, your hurting the company since their truck is now out of operation. Of course the road is still blocked, so it's not perfect.

Thoughts?

 

[lynchpin]

Explosives

 

[Fred.S]

Sledgehammers

 

[Juan_Lennon416]

Drive a snow plow up and down the street and push the cars away

 

[jaycola]

Like this?
youtube

Can we embed these?

 

[gabe]

Do what they do in Philly and other big American cities. If a car or truck is obstructing the rush hour traffic or a danger to other vehicles, boot it and tow it!! The time and hassle to get the truck or car back is far worse than the price of a parking ticket!

The Car Boot

 

[W. K. Lis]

Do what they do in Philly and other big American cities. If a car or truck is obstructing the rush hour traffic or a danger to other vehicles, boot it and tow it!! The time and hassle to get the truck or car back is far worse than the price of a parking ticket!

The Car Boot

The problem remains that the lane is still blocked. Better to tow it to a side-street off the arterial road, and then boot it.

 

[spider]

My solution is to follow the UK, and clamp vehicles that park in these zones. Commercial vehicles would have to pay $500 for first offense, plus $200 de-clamping fee. Best of all, your hurting the company since their truck is now out of operation. Of course the road is still blocked, so it's not perfect.

Thoughts?

Great idea, especially if the guy with the boot key is in Newmarket and he doesn't travel. The road may be blocked for about 48 hours 'til news gets around then never again.

 

[Transportfan]

Where else are couriers supposed to park? They're just trying to make an honest living. Give them a break.

As usual, I'm the only dissenting voice in these matters on this forum.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Where else are couriers supposed to park?

What about car drivers who block the rush hour lanes while they go into Starbucks, other coffee shops, or dry cleaners, etc? Do you believe these folks should also get the breaks you somehow believe the couriers should get? What about those document shedding trucks that can block a lane for an hour or more?

No one should get a break. Instead we should all follow the rules. What's wrong with that? If there's no where for couriers to park, then they shouldn't park, and the recipients will have to arrange delivery or pickup at the courier's depot.

 

[BurlOak]

Where else are couriers supposed to park? They're just trying to make an honest living. Give them a break.

As usual, I'm the only dissenting voice in these matters on this forum.

Couriers could have a passenger who does the delivery while the driver circles. They could also partner with a bicycle courier who does the final leg of the delivery. Or, they could wait a few hours until rush hour is over.

 

[Admiral Beez]

As usual, I'm the only dissenting voice in these matters on this forum.

Yes, yes, we're all bleating sheep while you get to play the martyr.

 

[jwill]

I'm going to agree that the best, and maybe only, way to stop vehicles from parking illegally is to make parking legal during rush hour. Fines, boots, and towing will reduce the problem, but never eliminate it. The guy going into starbucks for a coffee will still risk it for a couple minutes, the couriers still have to make deliveries and pick ups at all hours, and taxis will still stop for pick ups and drop offs without warning.

Why not just accept that those are valid uses of a street, and accommodate them. We should re-stripe all our 4 lane roads (except the ones with streetcar tracks obviously) to provide a single continuous through lane, right and left turn pockets at intersections, and parking/loading bays between them, like Dupont, Davenport, Christie, etc. I really think we'd be better off with this configuration downtown, because it maximizes the time that the single traffic lane is moving by separating out all the turning movements.

Capacity at intersections is already effectively one lane only, because there is always a car waiting to turn left or right. If we aren't willing to fix that by eliminating turns, or protecting them with a dedicated signal, then getting couriers and cabs out of the curb lane won't help much. And eventually we just have to accept that a road network built for a small town that had no cars is incapable of meeting current demand.

 

[Transportfan]

Or, they could wait a few hours until rush hour is over.

Sorry, I didn't read the title correctly before posting hastily. You're right about rush hour, but couriers should get a break to run in to make a delivery during the day. My dad was a courier and got ticketed often, even on side streets and displaying a cartage plate.

 

[Automation Gallery]

Couriers could have a passenger who does the delivery while the driver circles. They could also partner with a bicycle courier who does the final leg of the delivery. Or, they could wait a few hours until rush hour is over.

Sounds like they wont have to

'Giant loophole' in gridlock plan, traffic expert says
Traffic report suggests stiffer parking fines, but licensed commercial vehicles exempt

A prominent Toronto transit advocate says city proposals to ease traffic flow through steeper fines and tougher enforcement are a good start, but won't succeed unless councillors close a "giant loophole" that fails to crack down on commercial vehicles.

More........http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2012/01/03/torongo-traffic-publicworks.html