Rats, no license plate. But anyhow, a few people on bikes leaned in his window, presumably to tell him that he was blocking everyone's access, and he didn't move during the 5 minutes that I was trying to get a good photo.

suggestion: get license plate and write it down, call appropriate company, in this case toronto hydro but whoever, then snap quick photo. notify company that matter will be posted on this site.

should we maybe change the status on this one to "closed" rather than "open"?

Hm. You're right. I don't know what I was thinking -- that they'd voluntarily submit their policy here or something? But that was never too likely. Anyhow, you've motivated me to send an email to 311. I'll post the reply and close this when I hear back :)

And yes, you're right that a plate number would be best in the future, but I guess my camera wasn't as clear as I thought it was!

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EMAIL TEXT:

Hi there,

I was wondering if you could help me close this thread on SeeClickFix:
http://www.seeclickfix.com/issues/62722

What's the official policy on city vehicles parking in bike lanes? Is it permitted, or are they expected to leave bikes lanes clear like everyone else? I'd like to re-post your reply in the issue queue available through that link, and hopefully that's alright. Please let me know.

Thanks,

Geoff from Toronto 311 wrote back and directed me here:

http://www.toronto.ca/transportation/parking/regulations.htm#con
tl;dr - The city may take extenuating circumstances into account for anyone.

http://www.toronto.ca/transportation/parking/regulations.htm#off
tl;dr - Regular city and utility vehicles are NOT exempt, although tickets for certain violations may be waived when a work order or written letter (of stop's emergency nature) are presented.

Also, found this website:
http://toronto-bike-path-blockers.blogspot.com/

Anyhow, closing for now, but I'll leave a comment on that site, directing folks to start using SeeClickFix :)