The first parking ban of the winter resulted in far fewer tickets being issued than last winter.

Over the weekend bylaw officers issued 626 tickets, compared to the 1,863 citations handed out in February 2012.

Similarly, only 36 vehicles were towed between November 9 and 11, 2012, compared to 147 hauled to the impound lot in February.

“Because so many people took the time to make sure that their vehicles were off of those bus routes, our crews were able to finish well ahead of schedule." said Bob Dunford, director of roadway maintenance.

Road maintenance crews are moving into residential areas to start an around-the-clock, five-day neighbourhood blading cycle.

While there is no parking ban for residential blading, citizens are encouraged to move their vehicles or park off the street so trucks can blade from curb to curb.

Crews will also continue to monitor conditions on arterial roads, bus routes, hills and bridge decks and apply sand or rock chips as needed.

Once the temperatures climb closer to the freezing mark, the city will try to melt the ice pack built up on the roads.