Toronto Parking Authority

The Toronto Parking Authority (TPA), commonly known as Green P for its green-colour branding, is a parking lot management company owned by the City of Toronto. The TPA was established in 1998 with the merger of parking operations in the cities of the former Metropolitan Toronto. A municipal parking authority in the former city of Toronto was first set up in 1952, taking over management of parking from the police.[1]

Toronto Parking Authority
TypeMunicipally owned corporation
IndustryParking
PredecessorParking Authority of Toronto
Founded1998
Headquarters33 Queen Street East, ,
Canada
Key people
Hartley Lefton (Chair)
ServicesParking lots, bicycle sharing
OwnerCity of Toronto
DivisionsBike Share Toronto
Websitegreenp.com

The TPA operates off-street parking garages & parking lots, on-street metered parking, and Toronto's bicycle sharing system, Bike Share Toronto.

It is one of the largest operators of municipal parking services in North America, and is 100% self-sustaining through parking user fees and other sources, returning 75% of its annual net operating income to the City of Toronto,[2][3] totaling $1.5 billion dollars since 1992.[4]

Operations

Entrance to City Hall Parking Garage
Bike Share Toronto

The TPA operates around 59,000 parking spaces broken into 3 categories, in off-street parking garages & parking lots, on-street metered parking and joint ventured managed lots across Toronto.

21,000 of these spaces are located over 300 off street parking garages and lots, with the largest parking garage being the 2,027 space underground parking garage under Nathan Phillips Square. Parking lots that are operated by the Toronto Parking Authority are marked with green signs with their signature P in the middle, hence, "Green P" parking.[4]

The TPA also manages and operates parking facilities under contract for the Toronto Transit Commission, with around 13,000 spaces located at 17 TTC stations across the city, including at new stations on the Toronto York Spadina Subway Extension.[5][6] The largest TTC parking lot is the combined parking lot for Finch Station, with over 3,200 spaces.[7]

The TPA also operates and maintains Toronto's bicycle sharing system, Bike Share Toronto. The TPA took over from Public Bike System Company (PBSC) in 2013 when they ran into financial difficulties.[8] Since then, ridership has grown exponentially reaching 8 million rides, now covering 200 squared Km of the Greater Toronto Area with 6,850 bikes at 625 stations and 12,000 docking points.[9]

Enforcement

Enforcement of parking in TPA's lots are carried out by TPA's own enforcement officers. Customers who fail to pay or park longer for the amount of time that they purchase are issued a parking ticket requesting payment and issued official police tags for each subsequent offence.

See also

References

  1. Bateman, Chris (9 September 2017). "The parking garage of the future!". Spacing. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
  2. "Toronto Parking Authority". City of Toronto.
  3. "What is the Toronto Parking Authority (Green P)". Toronto Parking Authority.
  4. "Toronto Parking Authority Annual Report 2018" (PDF). Toronto Parking Authority. December 2018.
  5. "TTC Parking". Toronto Transit Commission. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
  6. "Toronto-York Spadina Subway Extension - Frequently Asked Questions". ttc.ca. Toronto Transit Commission. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  7. "TTC Finch Station". www.ttc.ca. Toronto Transit Commission. Retrieved 2020-03-09.
  8. "City of Toronto places bike share program on financially sustainable course". toronto.ca. City of Toronto. 4 December 2013. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  9. "Bike Share Toronto: Discover the Sharing Advantage - Ride with us Today!". Bike Share Toronto. Retrieved 2020-03-09.
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