A Montreal Borough Is Overhauling Parking Permits — Time To Trade In Your Tank

For those invested in the relationship between the size of their motor vehicle and the size of their, um, brain, the borough of Rosemont-La-Petite-Patrie is no longer what some might consider a "safe space." This is due to a new set of parking fees that will punish larger vehicle owners and encourage residents to invest in smaller, more efficient (and less obnoxious) cars.

Rosemont is introducing a set of parking fees intended to encourage the use of smaller cars and carpooling and to keep parking accessible. In a council meeting on May 1, borough mayor François Limoges said that the size, weight and number of cars in the area have been increasing, taking up "more space on the road" and limiting the amount of accessible space in the borough.

The fee system will, as of July 1, take into account the weight of vehicles parked in Rosemont rather than just considering the strength of their engines. The Plateau-Mont-Royal borough's formerly novel fee system relies on this now-antiquated metric, which assumes that engine size is a useful way of measuring space.

Or, in Limoges' more eloquent words, the fee system has assumed that "more powerful engines mean bigger cars." His team argues that measuring the weight is a more accurate system, he argued, pointing out changes in the automotive industry that have led to smaller vehicles containing more powerful motors and electric cars becoming larger and larger.

The new regulation is intended to "start a dialogue" about the size of vehicles across Canada, Limoges added. "We hope that the Quebecois and Canadian governments will use our groundbreaking moves in this area and consider taxing the size of vehicles."

"It's up to Ottawa to do that," Limoges said, emphasizing that, on the borough level, the council can only focus on parking.