If there was ever a time to figure out the complex code that is parking signage in Montreal, it would be now, because parking tickets and traffic fines are going to get more expensive under the administration of Valérie Plante. 

News of the parking-traffic fine hike came during yesterday’s city council meeting, when the Plante administration also spoke out about their decision to axe SPVM ticket quotas. 

Under the Coderre administration, SPVM officers had a monetary incentive to dole out parking and traffic tickets. Police officers would even get major bonuses to their salary if they met their quota. 

But while the Plante administration is ending ticket quotas, and the “ticket traps” used to fill them, they’re still planning on making a fair bit of cash through parking and traffic infractions. 

According to Montreal’s 2018 budget, the city plans to rake in $206.6 million in parking and traffic tickets by the end of the year. That’s $30 million more than the city collected last year, notes The Gazette. 

It seems as if the Plante administration plans to lower the amount of tickets given out to Montrealers (that is, at least, what the ending of ticket quotas signifies) while increasing the price citizens need to pay.

No information was given as to how much more expensive parking and traffic tickets will become. 

Parking and traffic fines have not increased in price since 2009, said Benoit Dorais, who is in charge of finances at city hall. Dorais also said Montreal’s traffic/parking fines are some of the lowest in Canada, reports The Gazette. 

But how can Montrealers avoid having their wallets gouged by tickets in a city known for having notoriously confusing parking rules? 

Dorais has a simple solution: “People who don’t want to get tickets, all they have to do is not break the rules,” he said.

Easier said than done.