Ottawa's new anti-idling rules begin on New Year's Day: Here's what you need to know

Ottawa motorists will need to watch the clock when idling their vehicles, as the city implements new rules under the anti-idling bylaw to crack down on unnecessary idling.

As of Jan. 1, the maximum idling time for occupied vehicles is three minutes per hour when the temperature is between 0 C and 27 C, and 10 minutes when the temperature is colder than 0 C or warmer than 27 C.

The maximum idling time for an unoccupied vehicle is now one minute per hour, regardless of the temperature.

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Council approved changes to the idling bylaw in October.

"By reducing unnecessary vehicle idling, we are lowering greenhouse gas emissions and improving Ottawa’s air quality," the City of Ottawa said in a statement on its website. "If every Ottawa driver reduced daily idling in their vehicles by two minutes, carbon dioxide emissions would decrease by about 31.2 million kilograms a year – or, we estimate, the equivalent of removing 6,780 vehicles from our roads."

The City of Ottawa says there are several exemptions to the idling bylaw, including emergency vehicles, OC Transpo and Para Transpo buses, mobile workshops, vehicles transporting individuals with a letter from a medical doctor, and school buses and tour buses when passengers are being loaded or unloaded.

Vehicles in parades, races and Council-authorized events will have to comply with the new idling bylaw rules when not in motion, according to the city.

Ottawa first introduced an idling control bylaw in 2007, prohibiting drivers from idling their vehicles for more than three minutes an hour when the temperature was between 5 C and 27 C, with no idling limits when the temperature was below 5 C or above 27 C, including the humidex.

City staff say idling offences are enforced on a complaint basis.

Between 2007 and May 2024, there were 4,617 service requests related to idling. Over the past five years, enforcement has resulted in a yearly average of 10 verbal warnings and seven tickets for idling, according to a city report tabled in September.

The fine for violating the anti-idling bylaw is $500.