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Posted by Michael McGoldrick, Wed Mar 7 2012 at 10:42 pm
Are the days of Laurier Bike Lane numbered?
Based on what is going on in the media, one gets the impression that the days of the Laurier Bike Lane might be numbered. The segregated bike lane runs through downtown Ottawa and was established last summer as a two year pilot project. Unfortunately, in the last few months there have been a rash of media reports that cast the bike lane in a negative light, and there are growing indications that some city councillosr believe it is time to rethink the project.
The Sun’s crusade against the Bike Lane.
It seems that the Ottawa Sun newspaper is intent on making the elimination of the bike lane a cause célèbre. In its initial editorial against the bike lane, the Sun accused the city of “unduly favouring cyclists over motorists”. This is mind boggling when one considers that (like most cities in North America) the vast majority of Ottawa’s road network has long favoured motorists.
More recently, the Sun carried reports on how the loss of some on-street parking spaces is hurting businesses along Laurier Avenue. One of these featured complaints by the owner of the Buffet Moni Mahal restaurant, who claims he may lose his business because of the bike lane. The Sun even had an article suggesting that the city is guilty of “incompetence” if, at certain times, the bike lane happens to be better cleared of snow and ice that streets or sidewalks.
Bike lane a source of “misery” for condo residents.
A few weeks ago the CBC carried a report about how residents of high rise condo buildings were petitioning the city for the immediate removal of the bike lane on the western segment of Laurier Avenue. In addition to describing the bike lane as a source of “misery”, they complain that it reduces the on-street parking spaces in front of their condos, blocks access to their property, and prevents medical providers from accessing their building in case of emergencies.
It has to be remembered that high rise condo buildings come with their own parking facilities. Moreover, the city made more parking available on side streets when the bike lane was created. What the condo owners are really complaining about is that visitors no longer have the possibility of parking immediately in front of their building. As for the lack of access by emergency medical providers, I fail to see how a bike lane is more of a barrier than a row of parked cars.
The Ottawa Citizen joins in the ruckus
A few days ago the Ottawa Citizen also carried an article about the bike lane is hurting businesses on Laurier Avenue. The style and substance of this article is almost identical to the one that appeared that in the Ottawa Sun a little earlier this winter. It also featured the owner of the Buffet Moni Mahal restaurant, who complains that he now has only a little more than half the customers he used to have before the bike lane was put in place (120-130 vs 200 customers a day). The Japanese Village restaurant is right next door to the Buffet Moni Mahal (the two are separated by a narrow alley), and its owner says revenues are down 11 to 12 % a month.
Although the overwhelming focus of the Ottawa Citizen article is the bike lane and the loss of on-street parking spaces, it does make a passing reference to the fact that a huge parking located immediately behind the Buffet Moni Mahal and Japanese Village restaurants was recently closed to make way for the construction of a 22 story office tower. This touches on the real crux of the problem.
Is the bike lane the main source of the problem?
I worked in the office building that houses the Japanese Village for many years and I’m very familiar with the stretch of Laurier Avenue between Elgin and Metcalfe streets. I can say that there were very few parking spaces on this part of Laurier. In fact, I counted only 9 daytime parking spots when I checked on Goggle Street view. In the evenings, there was probably another 6 or 7 parking spaces on the north side of Laurier, but most of these have been retained.  In other words, we’re talking a loss of a grand total of 9 to 11 parking spaces that were shared among customers of Buffet Moni Mahal, Japanese Village, and other establishments (there’s also a bar and hotel on this part of Laurier).
Although it would vary from night to night, Buffet Moni Mahal customers were probably using 3 or 4 of these on-street parking spaces during the evening hours. With this in mind, I find it difficult to believe the large drop in business experienced by the Buffet Moni Mahal, and to a lesser extent, the Japanese Village, can be fully explained by the loss of on-street parking spaces brought about by the creation of on Laurier bike lane. The bulk of the problem probably stems from the closure of the large parking lot immediately behind the two restaurants (see photo).
Unfortunately, anyone reading the reports in Citizen or the Sun would be left with a very strong impression that the bicycle lane is the main source of the problem. This is what the local business association probably wants everyone to believe. I suspect that Buffet Moni Mahal is being held out as the ‘poster child’ of a business on Laurier Avenue that’s in trouble because of a loss of parking spaces. The only problem is that this has very little to do the bike lane.
Shoddy journalism
Finally, the Ottawa Citizen article seems to have engaged in a little shoddy journalism. It says that Ottawa was so bent to do something “green”, it quickly pushed through its agenda for establishing the bike lane. In reality, the creation of the Laurier bike lane was a long drawn out affair.
The City of Ottawa initiated a segregated bike lane pilot project in 2008, and it decided to build such a facility along Somerset Street in the summer of 2010. However, Ottawa backed down in the face of fierce opposition from local business associations. After holding additional public consultations, the city announced in fall of 2010 that Laurier Avenue had emerged as the primary candidate for the bike lane. After still more public consultations, the city made a final decision to go ahead with a bike lane on Laurier Avenue towards the end of February, 2011. The bike lane was opened 5 months later in July of 2011. None of this sounds like the city that was bent on quickly pushing through an agenda for the creation of bike lane.
The article in the Ottawa Citizen:
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/travel/Laurier+bike+lanes+business/6247940/story.html
Articles in the Ottawa Sun:
http://www.ottawasun.com/2012/02/10/sherring-bike-lane-blamed-for-bad-business
and
http://www.ottawasun.com/2012/01/19/bike-lanes-looking-cleaner-than-sidewalks-roads
Report on CBC:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/story/2012/02/22/ottawa-bike-lane-petition.html
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