“Toronto Motorists Face New One Minute Idling Bylaw”

"The City of Toronto has passed a new bylaw that limits idling to one minute, reports say.

The bylaw includes TTC buses for the first time, the Toronto Star reports. The fine is $125.

Council voted 24-13 in favour of cutting the maximum idling time down from three minutes to one.

They also got rid of a loophole that let people idle if it was cold or hot."

interesting....how does one defrost their windows in the winter prior to driving?

Does it apply on private property like driveways?

Idiling bylaw now applies to TTC
Maximum fine for idling cut to one minute

Toronto's idling bylaw got a tightening at council this week, to make it easier to enforce on the public - and for the first time, to make it apply to the Toronto Transit Commission.

The bylaw has been in place since 1998, and prior to this week, made it illegal to idle a vehicle for more than three minutes while it's stopped in Toronto. There were exemptions: vehicles such as ice cream trucks, emergency vehicles, and Toronto Transit Commission vehicles.

Now, the maximum time for idling is cut to one minute - to make it easier for enforcement officers to lay a charge - and TTC vehicles are no longer exempt.

"The most persistent complaint I get from the public is idling buses," said Eglinton-Lawrence Councillor Howard Moscoe.

"For nine years I have tried without success to get TTC buses to stop idling. The TTC says we're going to educate drivers. But the culture is ingrained in the TTC - it's part of the culture to keep your bus running at the end of the line to go to the bathroom."

The new bylaw also removes an exemption for all vehicles when the outside temperature is higher than 27 degrees celcius or below 5 degrees celcius.

The bylaw was first introduced in the former City of Toronto in 1996 and extended across the entire city after amalgamation in 1998. It's enforced by Toronto's Transportation Services and Toronto police, and is promoted by Toronto's Medical Officer of Health as a means to improve air quality.

Simon Borys wrote:Does it apply on private property like driveways?

I'd have to double-check but I think it does.

That said... only 76 tickets are issued, on average, per year for this offence, so not much enforcement going on. This was also a bit comical: Worrying about a handful of vehicles idling for over 1 minute on the side of the road, versus the millions of vehicles in gridlock across the region. Okay, there should be an anti-idling by-law, but come on... priorities??

The other complaint some truck drivers have is Idle for more then one min and get a ticket. Idle for less and shut down before the Turbo has had enough time to cool or spool down and risk damaging it causing more pollution. I would the this is the same issue for TTC buses.

Glad they give is some good thought on how it effect vehicles other then passenger cars

This sounds like a law that could really be bad if not enforced with appropriate discretion.

The inmates are running the asylum in Toronto. Without heavy exceptions, this law is a nightmare. I would love to see it spoofed on the Rick Mercer Report. I am also very glad I moved.

Stupid, stupid councillors. Looks like they drank the koolaid.

Marquisse wrote:Looks like they drank the koolaid.

They're just as brainless as a glass of koolaid anyway... and that might be insulting the glass of koolaid.

There is no exception for TTC buses or any trucks. Indeed, the TTC buses have turbochargers that need 3 minutes to cool down. If they shut the bus off before the turbocharger cools, they'll blow the turbocharger. $8000 in damage I believe.

This 1-minute by-law was recommended by Toronto's Medical Officer. He had pushed for it for a long time, but he has no understanding of motor vehicles, and probably hasn't been outside (read: out of the ivory tower) in a long, long time. No one bothered to consult the TTC or anyone except other Councillors (no surprise there) when they considered this by-law. Besides that, every motorist driving on a major artery is going to idle for longer than a minute at just about every intersection. Traffic notwithstanding, the present cadre of numbskull Councillors had Transportation Services change the traffic light cycles to make drivers stop as often as possible. On any major artery, particularly in downtown, you'll invariably get a green light, only to run into a light that's going red a block ahead. If they're really worried about air pollution, they'd fix that problem first. Up until around 2002, when I visited the city (only moved here in 2008), I could go down roads like University, Lawrence, Kennedy, Spadina, Sheppard, etc., and get a "green wave" for at least 5-6 lights, or more. Now, I stop at every light almost all the time. Of course, they won't fix that, because they (City Council) caused the problem to begin with.

Marquisse wrote:The inmates are running the asylum in Toronto.

Just wait until the G20 summit. Holy Toledo Batman.

Honest to goodness, I am just astonished at this. It is so lacking in common sense that it begs the question of what, if anything, are the requirements to run for councillor in the City of Toronto? Do any of these nitwits who wrote and voted for this farce of a by-law share one cell of active brain matter among them? I cannot understand why there are no exceptions to private property or for starting up one's vehicle in winter months in order to drive SAFELY, and do they not realize that this law can cause them more money regarding TTC and other issues? What law will hold when challenged if it is proven that, in following the law, those subject to it will suffer economic loss through damaging machinery, not to mention the laws broken regarding the HTA for driving with obstructed windows (either frost or the resulting fog that happens when the car is still warming in the freezing cold). There is no question that an argument can be made to show that this by-law would contravene with the HTA, making it secondary to it and ultimately unworthy of the paper it's written on.

I see it being overturned or heavily rewritten before it's enacted. It's theatre of the absurd stuff, this is.

I'll tell you what. I hope they raise taxes for business and home owners, toll the hell out of the roads, and continue to introduce by-laws like this. It'll drive business and population down the QEW, spreading out traffic, jobs, and wealth.

Sigh... yeah. I think Toronto City Council has to be the dumbest legislative body in the country. Despite all of them being purported TTC cheerleaders, the TTC reacted with total shock when this happened: "What? What by-law amendment? There was supposed to be a by-law amendment? Why did no one talk to us?!"

The city of Toronto contributes $3.8 billion more in taxes to the federal and provincial governments than in gets back in funding. But when city Councillors continue to do incredibly stupid things like this, it basically negates any reason for the feds/province to give Toronto more of its money back. (Case and point: Councillor Kyle Rae spent $12 000 in taxpayers' money on his own farewell party, and then said people who had a problem with it are "without grace.") The city already has 100 lawyers on the payroll, but Councillor Howard Moscoe wants an independent, taxpayer-funded legal office that is solely there to do Councillors' bidding, in case the city legal department tells them "no." And let's not forget Adam "Giggedy" Giambrone. The backlash they've created is looking more like it will catapault their arch-enemy Rob Ford into the Mayor's chair. He is not anti-car, and will likely get this idling by-law scrapped, the subways extended, and the traffic lights synchronized... despite his buffoonery when he opens his mouth. (I just cringe.)

If not, then I know that Hazel McCallion and Sue Fennel are getting weak-kneed and dreamy-eyed at the possibility of all of those major companies re-locating to Peel Region... and I'm sure Hamilton, Markham, Richmond Hill, Vaughan, Burlington and Oakville will also want a piece of the pie...