Montreal's Snowplowing Nightmare: Night Owls Face Parking Ticket Ordeal

For Montreal residents who keep late hours, the city's snowplowing schedule has become an expensive headache. Twice recently, columnist Josh Freed returned home near midnight on designated snowplowing nights only to spend an hour circling his Plateau neighborhood alongside other desperate drivers, hunting for nonexistent parking spots.

The Cost of Coming Home Late

Both times, with no legal parking available, Freed parked illegally and awoke to discover his car had been slapped with two separate $195 tickets and towed away by 7 a.m. "I admit I didn't leap up at 6:30 a.m. to search again," writes Freed. "I'm a lifelong night owl who was spot-hunting until 1 a.m. and fell asleep, still wired, at 3 a.m. So I didn't feel like getting up four hours later to play musical cars again. But is it now illegal to come home late?"

The root of the problem lies in the Plateau borough's snow removal strategy. Unlike many districts that alternate plowing sides daily, the Plateau has been clearing both sides of many streets simultaneously this year from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. This leaves no parking on either side of most Plateau streets overnight. "Unfortunately there is no third side," notes Freed wryly.

A Universal Urban Frustration

While Freed's personal experience highlights Montreal's specific challenges, he emphasizes that parking scarcity haunts drivers across North American cities from Toronto to New York. "It's a constant hunt for a four-hour spot that may cost more than the rent on your first apartment," he observes.

The article details several common parking frustrations that drivers everywhere will recognize:

The Reluctant Leaver: After circling like a shark, you finally spot an idling car with lights on. You stop with flashers, blocking traffic that begins honking. But the driver sits motionless—texting, thinking, or meditating—until you finally give up and move on, only to see in your mirror that they're now pulling out as another car takes your spot.
Mall Parking Battles: Parking in crowded malls presents its own challenges, with vehicles often parked so close together that exiting requires creative maneuvers. Freed recounts an incident at Cavendish Mall where he took what appeared to be an open spot, only to be screamed at by another driver who claimed he had stolen it.
The Street Squeeze: Even when you find a spot, fitting into it has become more stressful. Modern car bumpers, unlike the clunky versions of the past, are expensive to repair. "Nudge someone's bumper and five passersby will take your photo to send the police," Freed warns.

Sign Confusion and Courthouse Irony

Adding to the frustration is Montreal's notoriously complex parking signage. Freed describes encountering "five French parking signs that translate to: 'No parking 2 p.m.-4 p.m., 4 p.m.-11 p.m. Tue-Thur-Sat. No parking 1-3 p.m., 3-6 p.m., 6-9 p.m., every second Mon-Wed-Fri-Sun. Also snow days, leap days and birthdays. Violators will be mailed to Ontario.'"

Even after deciphering these regulations, drivers might miss a sixth sign half a block down specifying snow-clearing restrictions. Those who attempt to fight tickets face another parking dilemma: finding a spot near the courthouse to challenge the violation. "If your case takes too long you may emerge victorious to find a new ticket to challenge on your windshield," Freed notes.

Searching for Solutions

Faced with the prospect of future snowplowing nights, Freed contemplates his options: risk another ticket by parking on his street, attempt to use empty military spots near a local armoury (risking unknown penalties), or adopt an elaborate alternative.

His proposed solution involves driving 25 minutes to Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, which allows alternate side parking on snowplowing nights, then Ubering home and back the next morning to retrieve his car. "That should cost $90 both ways, not $195 like my other tickets," he calculates. "Absurd? Yes."

Freed concludes with a sobering observation about municipal efficiency: "In a city where so much doesn't work well, the most efficient force around is the parking police. Because they always get their car."