How Toronto drivers used a King Street promotion to get free parking over and over

Drivers have been using the city's King Street pilot project discount code to park for free downtown, potentially for hours beyond what's allowed by the $10 discount, CBC Toronto has learned.

Now, the apparent glitch in the Green P appis raising the ire of local businesses the city aimed to support when the discount was announced back in January.

• Free parking coming to King Street to 'support local businesses,' city says

At the time, the city said the Toronto Parking Authority was "enhancing" the parkingdiscount in the pilot area by offeringup to $10 worth of free on-street parking each day using the Green P app.

CBCToronto later learned some customers were using the discount code repeatedly, providing them extra rounds offree parking,even in areas where hourly rates are as much as $5 an hour.

"Recent reports on usage of the promotion code indicate a very small number of customers have used the code more than once per day," confirmed city spokesperson Bruce Hawkins in a statement on Wednesday.

This is just the latest hiccup for the year-long pilot project, which was launched last November in a bid to speed up streetcar traffic by limiting vehicle access on the downtown corridor betweenBathurst and Jarvis streets.

The city maintains it's doing just that while boosting transit ridership, but area businesses have staged multiple protests and continue to criticize the project, saying it's having a negativeimpact on sales.

Since learning recently of issues with theapp, the city has"adjusted" it to only allow customers to use the discount code once every 12 hours, Hawkins said.

The city also made changes to its online promotional materials. Until Wednesday,the web pageoutlining the King Street parking promotion read, "The code can be used once per parking session per location per day." That wording is now changed to, "The code can be used only once per customer per day."

Customers took 'advantage' of promotion, business owner says

Prior to thesechanges,CBCToronto tested the app by parking near Adelaide Street West and Portland Street, where street parking is allowed between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. in the pilot area.

On June 26, CBCTorontobooked a parking spot shortly before 10 a.m. for two hours. Thatwould normally cost $4.50, but was free whenthe city's discount code was used. Then weadded another round of parking every two hours until 9 p.m., using the discount code each time,and never had to pay.

Hawkinssaid usage data on the discount code will be released publicly in the next round of King Street numbers, which is targeted forFriday.

It's not currently clear how many app users used the discount code repeatedlysince it was announced six months ago, or how much revenue the city may have lost through this practice during that time.

"I think it's really unfortunate that the incentive that was designed to help businesses that were truly struggling on King Street as a result of the project has been poorly managed, and it's allowed people to take advantage of it," saidTodd Sherman, president of Urban Dining, which owns the King West restaurants Gabby's, Hey Lucy's and District Eatery.

Sherman said his company has been forced to lay off restaurant staff amid dropping sales, which echoes the concerns of other businesses who maintain the year-long pilot, launched last November, has been hurting their bottom lines. Theapp promotion hasn't boosted business either, Sherman added.

"It's really been utilized by individuals that live or work in the community and were parking there anyway," hesaid. "When it was launched, sales didn't change at all."

When asked about customers' repeated use of the city's discount code, Mayor John Tory called the practice "disappointing" and likened it to using the TTC without paying.

"I wish they would use the two hours for free and then move on and give the space to somebody else who might be coming for lunch or for dinner," Tory said. "We'll keep an eye on it."