A Clean Slate for Old Tickets
The tickets being wiped out were issued between 1989 and 1995, meaning some of them have been sitting unpaid for more than 30 years. Rather than continue chasing down fines from an era before most of us had cellphones, the City has decided to close the file entirely.
For anyone who happened to have an ancient ticket lingering somewhere in city records, this is as close to a financial time machine as it gets.
Why This Matters for Ottawa Residents
Old debts like these tend to be more trouble than they’re worth to collect, and clearing them off the books frees up resources for the City to focus on more current priorities. It’s also a tidy, practical way to start fresh heading into a new chapter of parking enforcement in the capital.
For residents, it means one less thing to worry about if an old ticket from the early ’90s ever crossed their mind.
A Brighter Look for New Tickets
While the City was busy clearing out the old, it’s also making a small but noticeable change to the new. Ottawa Bylaw Services officers are now issuing bright yellow parking tickets instead of the traditional white ones.
The switch is meant to make tickets easier to spot on a windshield, so if you do get one going forward, at least you won’t miss it.
The Takeaway
Whether you’re a longtime Ottawa driver or new to the city, this bit of bureaucratic housekeeping is a nice reminder that even the oldest paperwork eventually gets sorted out. So the next time you’re circling for street parking downtown, you can rest easy knowing the City just closed a very old chapter, and opened a bright yellow new one.