TO motorcycle parking vote delayed

This is the content of an email I sent to my councillor.  I wish I could point to data to back up my claims.

I’m writing to let you know that free motorcycle parking is important for the following reasons:1) It encourages more people to use motorcycle, which has the following benefits to the city – Motorcycles create less wear-and-tear on city infrastructure.  If more people use motorcycles instead of cars then there will be less wear-and-tear there is on Toronto infrastructure such as road surfaces and bridges.  That means if we used more motorcycles it would be cheaper to maintain these parts of the city’s infrastructure. – Motorcycles take up less space when parking on the street.  If more people use motorcycles then we can fit more vehicles into the available parking areas leading to improved land usage. – Reduced congestion.  Since motorcycles are smaller and more maneuverable there would be less congestion if motorcycles made up a higher percentage of our traffic.  There are many benefits to reduced congestion including reduced CO2 emissions, which impacts health and quality of life for Torontonians.2) Avoids unfair parking tickets to motorcyclist who paid for parking.   The Toronto city parking machines issue a slip of paper as proof that the vehicle owner has paid for parking.  In other vehicles the slip of paper can be placed on the dash and, where the doors are locked, it is secure.  There is no secure place to put the parking proof-of-purchase slip on a motorcycle. – the parking slip can be taken by other people (presumably by people who are parking their own vehicle and steal the slip) – the parking slip can blow away in the wind or be ruined by rain – When such things happen the motorcycle rider is likely to get an unfair parking ticket.  This is a cost to them and it is a cost to the city to handle the parking ticket dispute processI’m asking for you to support continued free parking for motorcycles in Toronto.