We’ve all been there. Your car is parked on the street for five minutes while you run into Tim’s for a coffee. When you get back, a nice yellow ticket slapped on your windshield is waiting for you.
Parking tickets seem to be almost unavoidable in the city, but have you ever heard of “mobile payment notices?” Neither have we. But, if you park illegally at Toronto Pearson International Airport, be prepared to receive a $75 one.
@torontopearsonCongested airport terminals are not ideal when picking up family and friends from incoming flights at Pearson. To avoid circling busy pickup areas, it’s no wonder people have been opting to park illegally on roadways leading up to terminals. That’s a no-no and the airport is cracking down.
While you might not be seeing any parking enforcement at the airport equipped with physical tickets, you will definitely be seeing cars monitoring the roadways. These cars are equipped with cameras prepared to take license plate photos of cars parked illegally.
Be safe—use our free, convenient cell phone lots. Starting on Sept. 5, we will begin issuing mobile payment notices to cars waiting for arriving passengers on the busy roadsides around the terminals. https://t.co/oy3WRjaPKI pic.twitter.com/1VK18CRLmP
According to a spokesperson for the Greater Toronto Airports Authority, Ryan White, individuals won’t be receiving typical penalties. "We are choosing to call it a mobile payment notice, as opposed to a fine or ticket because …a lot of people would associate the word ticket with something that is issued by a municipality. This is a private payment," he said to the CBC. These $75 payment notices will be received by mail to the owner of the vehicle. Your best option when picking up someone from a trip is to use one of the two airport’s cell phone parking lots. These free lots which are about a five minutes drive to the terminals allow you to wait in your car until your friend or family member calls you to be picked up.
Via Toronto Pearson International Airport
"For Toronto Pearson, the mobile notice program is really a safety program at its core. It is dangerous for people to park on the roadsides, and secondary to the safety issue, it actually causes congestion and it makes it less convenient for people to pick up or drop off their friends or family members at the airport," White explained.
I don’t know about you, but I have more than enough bills filling up my mailbox, I don’t need anymore. Cell phone lots it is!
Source: CBC, Toronto Pearson
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