After years of advocacy, the moment we've been working towards is finally here. When we held our first parking protest back in July of 2024, we never could have imagined how many hundreds of supportive citizens would be standing beside us years later, fighting for a more reliable transportation system in Ottawa. Thank you to everyone who has helped us out, from sharing the campaign with friends, to helping with our numerous outreach efforts, to pooling money to buy ads at the Mayfair, to combing through tons of data, studies, and reports, to even just following along with the effort we've been putting in. Every single person has played a part in getting this study to where it currently is.
Image collage showing a small collection of our dedicated bus lane campaign events
Councillors have told us directly that hearing from residents greatly influences their vote. Many Strong Towns Ottawa members have already signed up to delegate, so please consider joining them and helping us push for a better, bolder vision for Bank Street! If you want to delegate, check out the links further down for more info.
The city's proposal can be found here. If you're not familiar with Bank Street, it is a four lane road: two inner lanes for general travel, and the two outer lanes used for parking, except during "peak" hours, when the northbound parking lane (7-9 am), and the southbound parking lane (3:30-5:30pm) open up as additional travel lanes. Under the new proposal, those outer lanes would become bus lanes during "peak hours" instead. The city would also add four small 24/7 sections near Lansdowne, replacing 17 parking spots, and has expanded on the September open house proposal by adding an hour in both the morning and evening peak to study the effects it has on improving transit when parking is removed on each side. This is certainly better than previous proposals, and it shows that our efforts have an impact, but we need to keep pushing.
We Need Bus Lanes ASAP
The city's plan would take until the summer of 2027 to begin, and until 2028 for us to see any data produced from the pilot. The transit crisis we are facing has only gotten worse. We cannot keep delaying solutions longer and longer. A simple pilot project like this should be implemented as soon as possible to study the benefits. We urge the city to implement the lanes this summer, to help with our transit crisis as soon as possible.
We Need Bus Lanes On Weekends & During Events
At a previous open house, the city said they would be putting in bus lanes during events, and according to their report, large events are the busiest for Bank Street and have the most amount of people using transit. Yet, they walked back their large events proposal for unknown reasons. Weekends are also the time when buses on Bank Street are delayed the most. Riders deserve to be able to get to where they're going in a timely manner, even if they're travelling on a weekend. We urge the city to have bus lanes running during weekends, and especially during events at Lansdowne.
We Need 24/7 Dedicated Bus Lanes
Having bus lanes for only a couple hours in the morning and evening will lead to people mistakenly leaving their cars in the travel lanes, as they are not aware of the rules at the time. In our canvassing, we often heard that the existing parking rules in the Glebe were confusing; adding another condition would only make things more confusing. This is why 24/7 dedicated bus lanes are an urban planning gold standard around the world. But for this pilot, even having a standardized longer period for the bus lanes to operate would undoubtedly increase compliance and help make them more efficient and effective. At the very least, we urge the city to extend the hours of bus lanes to 6 am - 6 pm, the hours when we see the largest bus delays.
We Need Bus Lanes In Each Direction
Bus lanes that operate only in the "peak" directions (northbound in the morning, and southbound in the evening) are based on assumptions that transit riders follow the same travel patterns as car drivers: an assumption that city data shows is mistaken. Much of the usage of transit in this corridor happens outside of peak hours. Students going to Carleton, elderly residents taking the bus to appointments, shift workers who work at different times, shoppers, event goers, the frontline staff we spoke to who make the unique retail in the Glebe possible, and everyone else travelling outside of regular 9-5 hours is being punished by the current proposal. We urge the city to operate the bus lanes in each direction at the same time.
You're Not Alone, Momentum Is Building
We're not alone in this fight. Over the course of our campaign, hundreds of residents we've canvassed expressed support for dedicated bus lanes, and more than 550 have signed our petition. On top of that, multiple community associations and advocacy organizations have already expressed their support for dedicated bus lanes on Bank Street:
- Centretown Community Association
- Dalhousie Community Association
- Manor Park Community Association
- Free Transit Ottawa
- Better Transit Ottawa
- Amalgamated Transit Union 279
- Ottawa Transit Riders
- CAFES
- Ecology Ottawa
How To Get Involved
What Is A Delegation?
A delegation is an opportunity to speak before one of several city council committees. You get five minutes to speak about a specific item on the agenda. You can delegate in person at City Hall or online using Zoom. If you are able to, try to delegate in person, as in-person delegations tend to be more impactful. You don't need to recite your speech from memory; many people simply write out their delegation speech and read it out loud. You are also allowed to submit a slide deck to align with your delegation, but this is not necessary.
Read Our Delegation GuideDelegation Deadlines
To register, email the committee coordinator at marcela.busnardodossantos@ottawa.ca with: "I would like to sign up to delegate on item 5.2 Bank Street Active Transportation and Transit Priority Feasibility Study, for the March 30th PWIC meeting. Thanks!"
Read Meeting AgendaNeed Help With Your Delegation?
Join our Discord and head to the #bank-street-bus-bike-lanes channel, where members are brainstorming ideas and helping each other write delegation scripts. You can also email us at hello@strongtownsottawa.ca with any question you might have!
Join Us On DiscordDon't Have Time To Delegate?
Please consider using our email template below to send an email to your councillor in support of dedicated bus lanes on Bank Street. It takes less than two minutes!
Email Your Councillor Using Our Template