CBC had a great episode about parking in downtown! We need to give people good alternatives to driving so that we can get people to where they need to go.
Parking is some of the worst land usage we can have in the downtown core of the city.
www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-p...
Cassie from @envirocentre.bsky.social does a great job discussing the benefits of a bikeshare program. We're very excited to see the positive results from the study. For a tiny cost we're able to provide a great service that increases our transportation connecitvity.
www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...
"Heritage" 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
Okay CTA. This is a good sign.
Members of Strong Towns Ottawa pose for a picture after the April Monthly Meeting
Members of Strong Towns Ottawa introducing themselves to each other during the ice breaker
Such an amazing turnout last night at our monthly meeting! Great conversations about next steps for bus lanes on Bank Street, the upcoming election, and our future advocacy!
If you're looking to join in on the fun, check out our next events at luma.com/STO
We look forward to seeing you there!
A map of the congestion happening in the city of Ottawa at around noon on a Friday. There is a red circle around the section of Bank Street in the Glebe which shows significant delays. The rest of the map is almost all fully green with no delays.
Here's a map of the current congestion around the core of the city of Ottawa today right around noon. As you can see, pretty much the only place that is backed up with congestion is in the area where the pilot study for bus lanes is. Yet apparently this isn't "peak hours" to some? 🤔🤔
Describing gutting the hours that the bus lanes will be in effect by 33% (2 of the 6 hours) as "cleaning up a few things around data collection in particular" is certainly a very interesting way to tell the public/other councillors what you're trying to do...
Please contact your local councillor.
Today Ajay of @bettertransitottawa.ca had a wonderful delegation at Transit Committee about the decision to cut back on the already watered down Bus Lanes on Bank Street pilot. We highly recommend watching it!
www.youtube.com/live/p09lCEc...
Picture depicting a large chunk of potholes on a section of a road in Ottawa.
I don't feel super respected or like my money is being spent responsible at all. Maybe raise our taxes so that we can actually afford the services we need?
Agreed. This completely blindsided us, and clearly even some councillors who had no clue what the implications of this motion were.
He was responding to quite a few people yesterday if you go through his replies on bluesky
The wolverine meme with him in bed holding a picture frame. The picture frame is a picture of Shawn Menard tweeting on May 13th, 2020, "It is very unfortunate what happened at Council today. We have residents walking into the street because they want to physical distance. We were talking about 19 of 320 parking space changes on one side of Bank street for 3 blocks. This is shameful." which relates to his recent motion to water down the bank street bus lane pilot in favour of parking.
Shawn Menard tweeting on May 13th, 2020, "It is very unfortunate what happened at Council today. We have residents walking into the street because they want to physical distance. We were talking about 19 of 320 parking space changes on one side of Bank street for 3 blocks. This is shameful." which relates to his recent motion to water down the bank street bus lane pilot in favour of parking.
Thinking about this one today 😔😥
With all due respect, it is an extreme disservice to the hundreds of residents who have been involved in this over two years to ruin most of their efforts and tell them "trust us we're doing you a favour" with not an ounce of discussion or explanation, nor any proof.
Exactly. This was very clearly worded in a way that would make people not question what was being said.
The peak period times don't compare to when parking is present because currently there is no parking present during those times. Likewise with the 24/7 sections, they're great, but they're an extremely tiny portion of the overall corridor and won't fix the glaring issues.
By ensuring we get no data about the effect of parking on bus lanes we are essentially setting this pilot up for failure. I hope you understand that that single hour meant a lot more than you're making it out to be. Being able to see how much parking slows buses down was vital.
No other traditional main street in our city has 2 of the busiest buses with the largest delays running on them, nor do any of those connect such a wide swath of the city to the area, nor do any of those main streets have an event centre that we just invest $400M into, nor do they connect to a uni.
The data you're showing there shows exactly what I'm saying? The delays are just as significant after the supposed "peak" hours you reduced the bus lanes to.
GPS data from the City of Ottawa staff report about buses on Bank Street showing significant delays all throughout the day, not just at "morning peak".
Would you be able to explain this part of the staff report that shows even worse delays at 9:30 than at 7am?
Motion brought forth to council by Councillor Menard, which sought to restrict the bus lanes on Bank Street from 3 hours in each peak direction to 2 hours.
Disappointment at council today. Council just passed a motion from Councillor Menard for the Bank Street bus lane study which will restrict bus lanes even further from staff's proposed 3 hours to 2 hours. This means we will get no data about how parking affects bus flow in the area.
Tomorrow City Council will discuss and vote on the final approval for the Bank Street bus lane pilot.
We still think it is a huge mistake that the city took out their planned event day bus lanes. Every side seems to support this, here's Darrell Cox (BIA Executive Director) saying it's a great idea
Text taken from the City of Ottawa's report for bus lanes on Bank Street with the following text : "Travel times are longest during major events, up to 18 minutes, when the high volume of buses, passenger drop-offs, staging, and increased pedestrian and vehicle activity affect both event attendees and other road users traveling through the corridor." The text "Travel times are longest during major events, up to 18 minutes" has been highlighted in yellow
Text from the City of Ottawa study on Bank Street reads : "During major events, parking demand within the study area exceeds supply, and this contributes to the large-scale adoption of transit by people travelling to major Lansdowne events." with the text : "large-scale adoption of transit by people travelling to major Lansdowne events." highlighted.
Text from the City of Ottawa study reads : "At this time, the pilot is not envisioned to affect transit or road operations during major events at Lansdowne"
The City of Ottawa's proposal during the open house in 2025 showing that they had intended for bus lanes to be in effect "in both directions during major events".
One concerning piece from the city's proposal for Bank Street bus lanes is that they seem to have removed large event bus lanes. Even though according to their own report, this is probably the most important time for bus lanes to be present.
Please sign up to delegate for the March 30th meeting!
A page from the Glebe BIA Retail Market and Gap Analysis Final Report. The highlighted section says " The analysis concluded that even if on-street parking were removed along Bank St, there would still be parking available on side streets and in the parkades; however, the businesses who participated in the study perceived there to be an inadequate supply of parking. The study posited that the perceived lack of parking is likely due to the underutilization and lack of awareness about the existing parking garages, which cost the same or less than onstreet parking along Bank St."
Wow, whoever the Glebe BIA hired for their retail analysis really knows what they're talking about! They directly tell the BIA that the on-street parking on Bank Street is not needed for local businesses, and that there are plenty of available spaces around that are cheaper to use!
The Glebe BIA had a report done about the area.
We think this image perfectly encapsulates the reason for hesitancy by the business owners to get rid of parking.
While 86% of the respondents who come to shop said they get there by means other than driving, 94% of the owners said they drove.
Here is the report on the underground parking facilities that states in no uncertain circumstances that the facility would be cash flow negative to the tune of almost SEVENTY MILLION DOLLARS.
"its capital and lifecycle costs exceed its revenue potential".
We cannot continue to ignore reality.
The video from last year is more relevant than ever.
David Hill and Cyril Rogers are incorrectly claiming the underground parking is cash flow positive over the long run. All of the evidence we have from City Staff goes against what this is saying.
We've attached the staff report refuting this.
Join us this Thursday, March 12th at 6:15 pm, 400 Sparks Street for our monthly meeting!
We'll be discussing how to accommodate the expected 500,000 new residents in the next 2 decades, and how to build livable neighbourhoods.
RSVP and more info at the following link : luma.com/rm9tqsjy?tk=...
This cartoon of Goofy playing as Mr. Walker and Mr. Wheeler does a great job of highlighting the mindset shift that occurs when we get behind the wheel.
It is interesting to note that this cartoon came out over 75 years ago, yet is just as accurate as ever.
youtu.be/5WYRmjgPF4U?...
Good afternoon!
Your call @mayormarksutcliffe.bsky.social! Create a #BetterByWard as a #PlaceForPeople or parking.
Two G7 capital cities; two different visions.
