Major Parking Changes Coming to Burlington

Published May 10, 2018 at 6:40 pm

Drivers in downtown Burlington, this one’s for you.

And it involves going digital.

Drivers in downtown Burlington, this one’s for you.

And it involves going digital.

New occupancy sensor technology, which keeps track of occupied and available parking spaces in real-time at city-owned lots, is being rolled out making Burlington one of the first cities in Canada to use it, according to the city.

The digital counter signs showing drivers the number of available parking spaces in each lot have been installed and are expected to be working by the end of May.

Photo courtesy of the City of Burlington

It’s one of several new parking initiatives aiming to make it easier for users to find and pay for a parking space.

A pay-for-parking app called HonkMobile, which is already being used in Oakville, is also being rolled out.

In addition, there are improvements to pay-by-plate parking machines in downtown Burlington to simplify the payment process and improve the user parking experience.

Throughout 2017 and early 2018, the occupancy sensors were installed in Burlington’s downtown, at every on-street parking space and all spots at city-owned lots.

Small occupancy sensors placed in every parking space send a wireless signal to a nearby receiver when a vehicle is parked. Using the data from the occupancy sensors, real-time parking supply information is displayed on new digital counter signs installed at all city-owned parking lots.

In addition to the digital counter signs, new digital wayfinding signs are expected to be installed on primary downtown streets within the next few weeks. The wayfinding signs will display real-time information about the number of available parking spaces in nearby lots and use directional arrows to guide drivers to those parking lots with empty parking spaces.  

Residents and visitors can use the HonkMobile app to search, pay for, and top-up parking payments directly from their smartphone, tablet or computer, as of April 30.

The HonkMobile app can be downloaded from the App Store or the Google Play store.

Users are required to sign up for an account and pay a transaction fee of $0.35 for each payment.

HonkMobile replaces the city’s former online payment tool Telepark and can be used on-street and in city parking lots.

You can use the code BURLINGTON to receive $5 off the cost of parking with your first Honk payment between now and June 30.

HonkMobile is the mobile parking provider in 11 cities in Southern Ontario. Users are sent notifications when their parking session is set to expire, allowing them to buy additional time remotely and avoid parking tickets.


Downtown Burlington’s pay-by-plate parking machines launched in 2016 and recently received improvements to help make the machines easier to use.

The updates include: new, step-by-step, easy-to-follow instructions displayed on the payment screen; new stickers on the outside of the machine to provide bold visual markers;  an increase in the brightness of the payment screens; the relocation of a remote server to reduce payment processing time.

“The city is continually exploring innovative and efficient ways to provide visitors and residents coming to the downtown with a parking experience that is convenient and positive,” said director of transportation Vito Tolone.

“Since the installation of the new machines, the city has heard concerns from businesses and visitors about the process and time taken to park downtown.”

Enhancements to parking machines, plus real-time parking information “will directly address those issues and help improve the parking experience for all in downtown Burlington.”

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