Ottawa Bylaw officers issuing 900 parking tickets a day this year

Bylaw Services officers are issuing more parking tickets this year, resulting in a boost to the City of Ottawa’s finances. CTV’s Dave Charbonneau reports.

The City of Ottawa is seeing a boost in revenue from parking fines this year, as Bylaw Services officers issue hundreds of tickets a day to drivers for parking infractions.

A report for the finance and corporate services committee meeting on Sept. 2 shows the Emergency and Protective Services department ran a $1 million surplus in the first six months of 2025, due to higher than anticipated parking fines, compensation savings from vacancies and deferred spending on materials and services.

The report does not say how much revenue parking tickets generated for the City of Ottawa in the January to June period.

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Statistics provided to CTV News Ottawa show Bylaw Services officers issued 179,246 parking tickets in the January to June period, up from 151,246 tickets during the same period in 2024. The city received 25,951 service requests for parking during the first six months of the year, up from 21,089 service requests during the same period last year.

“It is important to note that parking ticket revenue is not only dependent on the number of tickets issued, but also how many tickets are paid at full price, or with late fees,” Roger Chapman, Director of Bylaw and Regulatory Services, said in a statement to CTV News Ottawa.

“The increase in parking tickets year-over-year can be attributed to several factors, including population growth, an increase in requests for service and the large accumulation of snow this year resulting in additional winter weather parking bans. The ratio of tickets issued to service requests received remains fairly consistent, year over year.”

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The fines for parking violations range from $60 to $130, with early payment options available at a reduced penalty.

“Bylaw and Regulatory Services would like to remind motorists to review and comply with all posted and applicable parking regulations, including both signed and unsigned restrictions, when parking in the city,” Chapman said.

“Enforcement efforts will continue to ensure safety, accessibility, and compliance with the City’s Traffic and Parking Bylaw.”

The City of Ottawa did not provide a breakdown of the parking tickets by infraction so far in 2025.

Officials say Bylaw Services has “added to our complement of parking control officers,” with five new officers working in the city.

“That affords us the opportunity to do some enforcement that we weren’t in the past, such as targeted school zone enforcement, but also kind of redeploy and have more officers in the suburbs,” said Alison Stewart, Issues Management Specialist for Ottawa Bylaw and Regulatory Services.

Bylaw Services officials told CTV News Ottawa in June that 20,010 tickets were issued to drivers for parking in excess of the permitted time on an unsigned street through the first five-and-a-half months of the year.

The fine for parking longer than the posted time limit is $70, with an early payment option of $50.

During the Canadian Tulip Festival in May, 1,416 tickets were issued to vehicles parked on streets around Dow’s Lake and Little Italy.

Bylaw officers issued 16,053 parking tickets during winter weather parking bans in February and March, resulting in $1.685 million in fare revenue. The fine for violating the winter weather parking ban is $125, with an early payment option of $105.

Bylaw Services officers issued 452,202 parking tickets in 2024, up from 298,918 tickets in 2023 and 340,625 tickets in 2022.

With files from CTV News Ottawa’s Dave Charbonneau