Free on-street parking isn't worth the cost | Letters to the Editor

Advertisement 1 This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Breadcrumb Trail Links HomeOpinion Free on-street parking isn't worth the cost | Letters to the Editor Letters to the editor of the Ottawa Citizen for Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026 Author of the article: By Citizen letters Published Sep 19, 2026 Last updated 20 minutes ago 6 minute read Join the conversation A bylaw officer places a parking ticket on the windshield of a vehicle in the ByWard Market on Aug. 27, 2026. PHOTO BY TONY CALDWELL /POSTMEDIA Article content Free on-street parking isn’t worth the cost Article content Re: Is getting rid of paid on-street parking a great idea or bonkers? Article content Article content Columnist Mohammed Adam (with whom I rarely disagree) claims this is a debate worth having. Well, perhaps a very brief debate; the answer to the headline: Bonkers. Article content It is reported that enforcement of the pay-for-time meter regime eats a substantial amount of meter revenue. Free parking with, presumably, enforced time limits and only conviction revenue would cost far more. As it is, an enforcement vehicle need only stop at expired meters to issue tickets. If free parking were time-limited, every licence number would have to recorded once, then checked again after the allowed time to ascertain if a violation had occurred — two visits per vehicle. A huge and costly burden on bylaw officers and tax revenue. A major employment program for many more enforcers, though. Article content Article content Or there could be no time limits, so no “turnover.” This would lead to an early morning daily race, for returnees to office, to grab spaces for the day. Shoppers need not search for parking; there would be none. Article content Bonkers. Article content John Edmond, Ottawa Article content But professor, what about vehicles diverted to residential streets? Article content So a Carleton University professor has done a study showing that banning vehicles from parts of the Queen Elizabeth Driveway and reserving those areas for bicycles results in reduced emissions and noise. Article content I’m sure he’s right. But what about all the vehicles that are diverted onto the nearby residential streets where they inch along from stop sign to stop sign, belching out far more emissions than they would sailing along the Driveway at a steady 40 km/hr? Article content Bruce Little, Ottawa Article content Basic Grade 10 biology and why Kettle…