EDMONTON— The City's five bylaw officers who issue parking tickets for seasonal parking bans have issued over $4 million in seasonal parking ban tickets thus far in 2026, the highest total in city history, with more expected to come. Over 7,094 parking tickets were issued to Edmontonians who violated the city's seasonal parking restrictions between January 1 and April 27, during which the city received 117 cm of snow. Edmonton officials declared a pair of parking bans for snow plowing during that time, with phase one addressing major roadways and phase two tackling residential streets. The second parking ban, which was declared on February 18, did not complete phase two before the snow melted. The tickets are not expected to slow down despite the snow melting, though, as the City is in the midst of its street sweeping process that began on April 20 and can take up to eight weeks to complete. .Bans require residents to remove cars from designated streets for up to 72 hours after they are notified of an upcoming plowing, and to return them to their spots after their road has been completed.The city offers an alert system to notify residents 24 hours before plowing begins on their street, but despite the available notice, 90% of Edmontonians opted for the $250 fine for not cooperation.City Council debated lowering the fine to $150 in January, but ultimately voted against the motion."It’s incredibly infuriating to see there’s still folks leaving their cars on the street when there’s ample notification,” said Mayor Andrew Knack to the Edmonton Journal in January.“I think we do need to hold those folks accountable. When those cars are on the street, it means crews take longer to do the job and they can’t do as effective of a job as they would like. Nobody is benefiting from that.".Many individuals who moved their cars were rewarded with up to three-foot windrows on the street, blocking vehicles from parking on the curb unless they remove them themselves, which often requires hiring a private company.The City of Edmonton was forced to pause bylaw complaint services for seven non-parking-related issues in March, including noise and unsecured vehicle loads, to help combat the increased demand on officers caused by disobedient car owners.In January, officers issued more parking tickets for seasonal parking ban violations than the 3,777 handed out for insufficient payment in EPARK zones.
