The head of the Glebe BIA says his organization will be closely monitoring the impacts of new bus lanes on Bank Street businesses.
Last month, Darrell Cox told OBJ that the city’s approximately $2-million plan to remove parking spots in favour of bus lanes on Bank Street would lead to a loss of customers and revenue for Glebe businesses. He said the biggest impact would be felt by businesses along the no-parking segments between Fourth and Fifth avenues and between Fifth Avenue and Regent Street. Those businesses include Mad Radish, Yolks, The Papery and Mickle Macks Haberdashery.
The pilot project, which was slated to last 15 months starting June 1, 2027, would have seen 17 parking spaces removed to make way for four permanent 24-hour bus lanes on Bank Street at Fourth Avenue, Fifth Avenue and near Lansdowne Park. Segments of the street would also be restricted to buses-only during peak hours in the morning (7 a.m. to 10 a.m., northbound) and evening (3 p.m. to 6 p.m., southbound).
At city council this week, Capital Ward Coun. Shawn Menard brought forward a motion to amend the pilot project to last 12 months, with reduced hours for the time-of-day bus lanes (7 a.m. to 9 a.m., northbound and 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., southbound). The amended project was approved by council.
Knoxdale-Merivale Coun. Sean Devine also brought forward a motion to include the Glebe BIA and local businesses in a monitoring plan that would look at best practices from other municipalities that have implemented similar transit projects, as well as data such as merchant and customer surveys, foot traffic counts and commercial vacancy and occupancy trends, to determine the impact of the project on businesses.
On Friday, Cox told OBJ he was happy that local businesses were heard. “I think our voice was heard on not extending the peak period (bus lanes), which was a small victory, along with making the 15-month pilot into 12 months … We are in support of any improvements to active transportation and we understand it’s a city priority, but it can’t be at the expense of the business community.”
Reducing the time-of-day bus lanes by an hour will help during what is “a prime time for our businesses,” he added.
Now that the plan has been approved, Cox said the BIA will work with the city and its own members to determine what metrics to include in the monitoring plan.
“The city said they would be evaluating the plan at six months in and reporting back after a year. I think we would be monitoring on a more regular basis. The issue with this pilot project is that the impacts are going to be felt immediately,” Cox said.
In addition to being involved in the monitoring plan, Cox said the BIA will work with the city to search for additional parking on side streets.
“We’ve seen through our own research and outside research that we’re definitely a destination. People are coming from all over the place to visit the Glebe and curbside parking is important. We’re losing those 17 spaces, but we’ll work with the city to determine (if there are) opportunities for angle parking on side streets,” he said.
