Parking Authority - Courtesy Charge

Parked in an underground lot and didn't realize it was a TPA lot; got an envelope to pay a courtesy charge.

What happens if I don't pay? Is this like a parking ticket where I can't renew my license sticker until its paid?

Anyone have any experiences like this?

i belive a friend of mine got the same thing a few years ago while parked along harborfront... read everything on the notice and it should be clear that you can rip it up and throw it in the garbage

What is a courtesy charge? Did you pay anything to park there? If you didn't pay anything than you should pay it... if it was some kind of penalty and you don't think you did anything wrong, that you can take your chances...


I know at some parking locations I get a little envelope if they close before I have exited the lot. I always pay though because I actually was there and used there service...

anyone who uses that type of service, tell us how it works.. ??

did some googling...heres what i found

on your second "offense" instead of a courtesy envelope you'll get an Infraction notice which if unpaid in 7 days turns into a $20 fine, this all takes place regardless of having paid the original courtesy charge...the infration fine comes only if its within one year of being issued the original courtesy envelope.

http://www.greenp.com/tpa/infraction...yEnvelopes.jsp


they define Courtesy Envelopes as

http://www.greenp.com/tpa/faqs/FAQs.jsp

8. What is a Courtesy Envelope?
The TPA uses a two-tier approach to enforcement in its off-street lots. The Courtesy Envelope is a non-statutory arrears payment notice. Payment of Courtesy Envelopes is made at TPA offices.

non-statuory means "not-punishable"
http://www.hyperdictionary.com/dictionary/statutory


aside, heres an interesting blurb i found on the toronto police board meeeting minutes document

“Cost of Change�, in the text and the chart provided, the TPA projects they willissue 400,000 courtesy envelopes resulting in revenue of $ 1,000,000, in the first year ofoperations. However, using the courtesy envelope value of $ 3.25 and assuming a collectionrate of 50%, they would have to issue 615,384 such courtesy envelopes, a difference ofapproximately 50% from the numbers provided

its evident they only expect about 50% collection rate from those envelopes..

http://www.google.ca/search?q=cache:...envelope&hl=en


hope it helps
cheers~

OMG. Just pay the damn parking fees. Cheap bastard.

If you're too poor to pay for parking, you're too poor to drive. It's one thing to challenge the system when the system is unfair, but it's a whole new can of worms to scam the city of parking fees when you should have paid them to begin with.

You already benefit from the vast amount of free street parking throughout the city. Now you're asked to pay a few bucks, if even, and you're contemplating on cheaping out?

OMFG.

Originally Posted by actng

OMG. Just pay the damn parking fees. Cheap bastard.

If you're too poor to pay for parking, you're too poor to drive. It's one thing to challenge the system when the system is unfair, but it's a whole new can of worms to scam the city of parking fees when you should have paid them to begin with.

You already benefit from the vast amount of free street parking throughout the city. Now you're asked to pay a few bucks, if even, and you're contemplating on cheaping out?

OMFG.

I agree, but I don't think it should be surprising that if there are people out there who will try to get out of taking responsibility for more serious violations where they have to put in an effort to do so (i.e. speeding tickets), there will be more people out there who will try to do the same for smaller violations when nobody is looking.

Originally Posted by mbg

I agree, but I don't think it should be surprising that if there are people out there who will try to get out of taking responsibility for more serious violations where they have to put in an effort to do so (i.e. speeding tickets), there will be more people out there who will try to do the same for smaller violations when nobody is looking.

Dude... you know you're opening a whole new can of worms when you talk speeding tickets with me. People should contest their speeding tickets not because they're avoiding responsibility but because the punishment doesn't fit the crime. Although the fine on the speeding ticket is usually $100 something, the insurance hikes that come with it are insane (in the realm of $1000s). Now look back at the crime... doing 72 in a 50 = thousands of dollars? Not fair.

In this case, it's a friggin $10 parking fee, if even. Just pay it muthfuka and STFU. You're already getting a break by not getting a $50 parking ticket for not paying for parking.

i use to work at that crummy TPA...

if you don't pay.. it'll just be filed.. and you'll eventaully have to pay it off before you can get your drivers licensed renewed

Originally Posted by actng

In this case, it's a friggin $10 parking fee, if even. Just pay it muthfuka and STFU. You're already getting a break by not getting a $50 parking ticket for not paying for parking.

I have to agree with Actng here. I have received a courtesy envelope before.

The DAMN FINE IS $3.25.

If you are too cheap to pay $3.25, you should not be driving.

I have a friend that works at The Parking Authority. He is the one that issues the Courtesty Envelopes. All the license plates are recorded on the computer and after you get 3 Courtesy charges unpaid, he will give you a Police Tag. $30 fee. They raised the charge from $20 to $30 for 2005.

You are lucky the enforcement guy only gave you a courtesy charge. He could have given you a police tag. It is totally at their discretion.

My parking fine was $8. I parked there at 10pm and thought it was free after 9pm. But I guess it is my fault for not looking at the signs properly. But the signs are always so hard to read sometimes, having to look down the entire street to make sure i don't miss anything.

Anyway, they recorded my licence plate wrong. So wouldn't that waiver my fine?
and it does say non-statutory?? As said by someone else...non-punishable????

If your plates have been recorded wrong, I think its safe to rip it up as it doesn't relate to you at all.

i too have worked there and from what i remember, they don't do anything until ur third one. On ur third one, they'll call you and bug you about it. Think of it as a three strikes u'r out system. I used to issue a shitload to my ******* stepfather for the heck of it since he's such a jerk for cheating on my mom. But anyways, that's a whole new story