Bylaw Services officers issued fewer parking tickets across the city of Ottawa last year.
A report for the emergency preparedness and protective services committee show 298,918 parking tickets were issued in 2023, down from 340,625 parking tickets in 2022.
The Bylaw and Regulatory Services annual report shows the top parking infraction was “unauthorized paring on private property,” with 43,610 parking tickets issued last year.
Here are the top 5 parking ticket infractions in Ottawa last year:
- Unauthorized parking on private property: 43,610
- Park in excess of posted time limits: 37,652
- Parking in no parking areas: 35,378
- Stopping in a no-stopping area: 38,494
- Parking in excess of three hours: 24,221
The statistics show Ottawa received 41,034 requests for parking in 2023, up from 35,699 in 2022 and 31,711 in 2021.
“The lower number of service requests related to parking in 2021 and 2022, as compared to pre-pandemic, can likely be attributed to the continuation of work-from-home arrangements for federal government and private sector workers, and more readily available parking in the core,” staff said in the report.
“Call volume continues to trend toward pre-pandemic levels as fewer employees work from home in the National Capital Region.”
Bylaw Services has 43 full-time and 29 part-time staff in the parking enforcement and logistics branch.
Staff say parking enforcement was the top request for Bylaw Services in 2023, followed by property standards, animal care and control calls and noise complaints. There were over 100,000 service requests to Ottawa Bylaw and Regulatory Services in 2023.
Noise complaints
City staff say the amount of noise complaints continues to trend down towards pre-pandemic levels. There were 11,039 calls to Bylaw Services for noise complaints in 2023, down from 11,882 in 2022, 12,113 in 2021 and 12,339 in 2020.
The report shows there were 10,778 calls for noise complaints in 2019.
“The increase in noise-related service requests throughout the pandemic can likely be attributed to residents spending more time at home and in closer proximity to their neighbours,” the report says.