Transportation: Parking
Parking Meters
Hamilton has over 2400 on-street parking meters in the downtown area, whicih are enforced Monday to Saturday from 8 am to 6 pm. They cost either $0.50 or $1.00 per hour. Parking at on-street parking meters is free after 6 pm daily and all day Sunday and Statutory Holidays. On-street parking meter time limits range from 1 hour to 2 hours and provide a free grace period of 10 minutes after the paid time on the electronic meter has expired. Broken parking meters are reported to (905) 540-6000.
Pay And Display
Hamilton offers at the 19 surface car parks and 2 covered parking facilities in the Downtown Core. Pay and Display (P&D) machines are found in most City of Hamilton car parks, and are typically solar powered and have an electronic display and easy-to-follow instructions. Enter the desired parking duration into the P&D machine, which prints a receipt which you need to pace on your vehicle dashboard face up. Some of municipal car parks have an all-day-parking fee of only $3.00. Report a malfunctioning P&D machine to (905) 540-6000.
Watch for information about free Pre-Christmas parking on the parking meter dome. Rush Hour areas (where you cannot park during "rush hour") are identified by signs, the information plate in the parking meter dome, and by a yellow sticker on the parking meter post.
Monthly parking at Municipal Car Parks
Monthly parking may be available in selected municipal car parks. For availability or further information, call a Customer Service Representative at (905) 540-6000.
Annual Pre-Christmas Free Parking
Shop, dine, do business or play and park for free before Christmas.
Several Businss Improvement Areais (BIAs) including Barton Village BIA, Downtown Hamilton BIA, International Village BIA, James St. N. Business Association, James St. S. Business Association and King West BIA have arranged for free on-street parking from November 24th to December 24th (limited to 2 hours). The Westdale Village BIA has arranged for free on-street parking for eight (8) Saturdays prior to Christmas (typically starting the first weekend in November)with a limit of to 2 hours. The Dundas BIA has arranged free parking in municipal car parks from November 24th to December 24th, and the Ottawa Street BIA has free 2-hour on-street parking from November 15th to December 15th.
Look for the message inside the on-street parking meter caps or on parking meter bags. All parking and stopping regulations must be obeyed at all times.
Paying Parking Tickets
Parking tickets may be paid within 7 business days in order to take advantage of the early payment fee.
Payment Methods
You can pay tickets by mail, using the ticket envelope and mailing a cheque to the address on the ticket.
You can pay in person Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at either:
- Hamilton Municipal Parking System, 80 Main Street West
- City Hall, Finance Department, 1st Floor, 71 Main Street West
The City accepts cash and debit cards, cheques or money orders (payable to the City of Hamilton), and Visa and MasterCard are accepted only at at 80 Main St. W. You can also pay tickets online.
Fighting Your Ticket
To discuss and review a parking ticket you believe it was issued in error, visit the First Attendance Facility at 80 Main Street West. They review over 12,000 parking violations annually. You or your authorized agent must bring the parking infraction notice or the Notice of Impending Conviction with you to discuss with Enforcement Adjudicators who are in Monday to Friday from 9 am to 4 pm.
Following your review, you can choose to set a trial to challenge the officer's evidence. You or your agent must sign a Notice of Intention to Appear in Court, which will be provided by the Enforcement Adjudicator for your completion and signature. You will be notified in mail of the date and time of your Trial Hearing.
If you do not pay the fine by the specified deadline, or request a trial, a conviction is entered against you without further notice. Your required fine is automatically increased by $16 and a Notice of Fine and Due Date mailed to the registered owner of the vehicle with a new due date for payment.
Unpaid parking ticket convictions are forwarded to the Ministry of Transportation for licence plate denial (you will then pay an additional amount of $20.00 to the fine before a renewal sticker can be issued/renewed for the motorist.
The City of Hamilton enforces over 80 different parking violations. The following are the most common violations enforced by our Parking Control Officers:
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