Nearly 7K Winnipeg drivers ticketed in citywide parking ban

While more than a thousand Winnipeg car-ownerswere treated to the city's courtesy towing services over the weekend as part of the citywide parking ban, nearly seven times as many drivers were ticketed.

In total, 1,605 had the unpleasant experience of being towed between Feb. 13 and Feb. 15. And6,697 tickets were issued during the first full residential parking ban of 2015.

Some Winnipeggers claimed to find the city's "Know Your Zone?" parking ban system confusing ahead of the ban late last week. And following the ban, others, likeKristjan Thompson, said they had issues finding their vehicles after being towed and relocated by the city.

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"I have nothing against the ticketing, I have nothing against the moving of the vehicle, that's fine, but losing a vehicle is a big deal," said Thompson. "If you're going to have this process in place, like you could really, seriously affect someone's life."

I am getting lots of calls from people who wereticketedafter the street was plowed.I think that is a ridiculous thing to do.- Ross Eadie, Mynarski Ward councillor

Mayor Brian Bowman said the onus is on car-owners to know when their zone is scheduled to be plowed. Bowman said the city communicates ban notices to the public via Twitter, media and on its website.

"Part of the challenge this year is this is the first residential plow, full residential plow, so one of the things that we could always consider is just really trying to do better earlier in the season so it's not at the last minute when the plow is announced," said Bowman.

Those who were ticketed over the weekendwill have to cough up$150 a ticket ($75 if it's paid early). The city could rake in between $500,000 and $1 million from the nearly 6,700 tickets that were doled out between Friday and Sunday.

Streets in Winnipeg's North End and West End were among the top 25most ticketed in the city.Out of the 1,159 streets that were part of the parking ban, North and West End streetsaccounted for 17 per centof all tickets that were issued.

Wrongfully ticketed?

Mynarski Ward Coun. Ross Eadie said he has been getting calls from those in his constituency this week claiming to have been wrongfully ticketed during the ban.

"I am getting lots of calls from people who were ticketed after the street was plowed.I think that is a ridiculous thing to do," said Eadie."The parking authority should be spending their time getting the cars to move off the street so they can plow them.

The city has said sometimes it returns to streets it has already plowed if there were issues or missed areas it needs to address.

"The only problems that I know of usually are the ones where cars didnt move," said Eadie. "And usually, because the zones are fairly big, [the city]never gets back to it during the 'Know Your Zone?' period anyway. So the excuses I am hearing are not right."

Want to know which neighbourhoodswere the most ticketed during the city's parking ban? Searchthe tablebelow.

On mobile? Click here to use the table or to see the map.

Top50 most ticketed roads (Feb. 13-15)

Number of tickets: The darker red lines indicatemore heavily ticketed streets; thelighter lines indicate less ticketed streets.