TTC Can’t Comply With Revised Anti-Idling Bylaw
Posted June 10, 2010 7:39 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The TTC says it won’t be able to comply with the city’s new and more stringent anti-idling bylaw which has reduced the amount of time parked vehicles are allowed to run their engines to one minute.
In an effort to reduce pollution city councillors voted in favour of cutting the idling time to one minute from the previous three and TTC buses are now included in the bylaw, meaning they can’t be kept running during a layover or stopover.
On Thursday TTC spokesman Brad Ross said the commission won’t be able to comply with the new rule because buses would be damaged if their engines are turned on and off several times during a shift.
“Heavy diesel engines such as buses, tractor-trailers need at least three minutes to cool down before we shut a bus off. If we don’t do that it will damage the engine, particularly the turbos within the engine, and when you damage those you’re looking at about $8,000 per engine,” Ross explained.
“So we need some clarification to understand exactly what it is that council did yesterday because we did ask for an exemption on the one minute.”
Coun. Howard Moscoe, the former TTC chair, fought to have the TTC bus exemption removed from the revised bylaw due to the large number of complaints he hears about idling transit vehicles.
“We worked with Toronto Public Health, who brought this amendment to the bylaw forward. They understood and agreed with our need for an exemption around the one-minute bylaw,” Ross said, adding the TTC is fine with the former three-minute limit on idling.
Drivers caught idling more than a minute will be handed a $125 fine. There’s no indication yet when the revised bylaw will come into effect.
