As of March 31, 2016, Car2Go is rolling out on-street parking across Toronto. Sources--see
their website under the 'parking' tab, and
this Metro article.
There has been a large negative reaction elsewhere, so for the purposes of an informed debate I can provide 3 important summaries:
How Car2Go currently works: you must end your rental within the home area (roughly Eglinton, Vic Park, Jane/S Kingsway, the lake, plus a lot at Pearson)
inside a designated parking lot. You can park at almost any un-gated on-street surface Green P lot (via a barcode on the dashboard issued by the TPA that enforcement officers can scan), or in most gated Green P lots/garages (via a Green P monthly parking access card located in each vehicle that bills the parking to C2G and opens the gates); there are also many privately owned lots which have designated Car2Go spaces where you can drive right in and end your rental leaving the car in that spot. There are also a small handful of City of Toronto Carshare Vehicle Parking Area (CVPA) spaces consisting of 3-4 smart cars' worth of parallel parking spaces on a few residential streets in the city.
Those are the only places you can currently end your rental and, consequently, the only place you can start your rental as unused cars should only be present in those designated lots.
During your rental you are absolutely free to park wherever you want, but you're responsible for anything relating to parking--if you park in a no parking zone and it's towed, you pay and are fined; if there's a street parking meter, you pay; if it's a non-designated lot/garage, you pay. They are vague on whether you can park for free at designated lots
during your rental, i.e. use the Green P access card to enter and exit a lot while retaining your access to the car without ending your rental, but I've found most people do it.
How Car2Go wanted to operate per a recent proposal to council: (this is also how it works in Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary, a couple odd dozen other North American cities and several European ones) C2G pays the TPA a certain amount per car they own per month, and get to park in any semi-restricted parking space for free; i.e. they cannot park in a no parking/standing/stopping zone including rush hour zones (i.e. they would not allow members to end their rentals on King St even at 12PM because the car could stay there until 4 and be towed), and not in accessible spaces either, but they
could park in any metered parking space for an unlimited amount of time (under the monthly per-car fee to TPA) as well as in residential permit parking zones (with some exceptions, most likely), and in unsigned parking zones exceeding the 3 hour limit. Again, they would pay the TPA an agreed-upon fee for all of these benefits, just like they do across Canada and the USA.
How Car2Go will operate under these new rules: since council denied their last proposal, they've come to a hybrid solution on their own; members can end their rental in any unrestricted parking space regardless of the 3-hour bylaw, Car2Go will monitor vehicles and move them in under 3 hours if somebody else doesn't come to rent them, or pay the ticket if they fail to do so, without penalizing the member. This does NOT included metered parking spaces, or rush hour restricted parking, or illegal spots of course. It is unclear if this includes areas signed as 1 or 2 hour parking, or parking at say 6PM in an area marked no parking after midnight due to residential permits (they've only called out
rush hour no parking zones as an exception so far).
A lot of people are saying this is illegal and absurd and is going to screw up the city, but they don't seem to be noticing that there is nothing illegal or wrong with this if done right. Car2Go's vehicles experience a very high turnover rate in general, most of the time the vehicles that were near my condo would cycle out
well under every 3 hours on their own through people taking them. And C2G is saying their staff will monitor cars present on residential streets approaching the 3-hour limit, and send an employee to move it elsewhere if necessary. Of course it's reasonably likely that now and then a car will be left somewhere over 3 hours, but they're stating that they don't intend to let that happen where preventable and
they will pay the tickets if it happens, which is more than can be said of a lot of private vehicle drivers who often park illegally.
Overall I think it's a good idea. Reduces pollution and congestion, improves access to carsharing, operates within the law...seems like a good compromise, though I really wish city council had just
taken the damn money for parking in metered spaces etc. C2G is guaranteed to pay for street parking that way, while I walk down streets with meters and regularly see more than half the cars haven't paid...
Edit: an e-mail I just received from them confirms that this includes 1-3 hour parking zones as long as there is no rush hour restriction. The FAQ on
http://toronto.car2go.com/street/ also confirms that overnight parking restricted streets ("No Parking Except By Permit 12:01 AM - 7AM)
are allowed as well.
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