More parking needed at GO stations

Vaughan Weekly (opinion)
April 1, 2014

Dear Editor,

There are quite a few people living in the City of Vaughan who must use the GO Train.

As the population of Vaughan has grown, so has the ridership on the GO trains. Unfortunately, the parking facilities have not kept up with the growth.

The City of Vaughan has been gifted a “cash cow” situation. As most of the GO parking lots are full, during the morning schedule, many commuters are forced to park their vehicles on the adjacent roadways.

Within Vaughan, there is a bylaw that states that there will be no parking, longer than three continuous hours, between the hours of 6 a.m. and 2 a.m., on city roadways. As well, there is no parking allowed between the hours of 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. The citation for parking, outside of this bylaw, is $35.

Now, I ask: how does someone return from the downtown Toronto core, to their vehicle within the three hour time frame, to move the car, to avoid a ticket and then return to work?

After receiving a ticket one day, I inquired why the ticket was issued, when Eagle Rockway is an unassumed roadway, with only GO train passengers as traffic, and the GO buses that pick up transfer passengers?

The logic that I received was: “If we receive a complaint, we send an enforcement officer and they issue tickets, as required.” Please note that there is no development on this roadway, past the Wal-Mart and Lowes parking lots.

As well, if the King City parking lot is full, then you have to park on the shoulder of Keele Street. This is a main roadway, with a considerable amount of traffic. After you park your car, you have to walk on the side of the road, to get to the parking lot.

I asked about the lack of parking, and the response was: “The GO  parking facilities are a Provincial matter, and not an issue for The City of Vaughan. However, the adjacent roadways are the responsibility of Vaughan, and, although unassumed, they are governed under the bylaws of The City of Vaughan.”

As well, please note that there is no consideration for the cancellation of the tickets issued. The bylaw is the bylaw. Illegal parking is an offence, and the fine is payable, within the stated time frame, as explained on the citation. You cannot go to “court” to discuss this. The people within the bylaw office are sympathetic to this situation, but their hands are tied by the bylaw.

I spoke to the office of  Steven Del Duca, MPP for The City of Vaughan. I received the typical political response: “We are aware of this issue and we are looking into it.”

Unfortunately, these issues take a considerable length of time to resolve, if done at all.

In the meantime, we, the unfortunate citizens of Vaughan, who do not obtain a parking space within the confines of the designated “GO” parking lot, will continue to contribute to “The City of Vaughan coffee club.”