On March 30, 2026, we delegated at the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee on the Bank Street Active Transportation and Transit Priority Feasibility Study. Below are our remarks (at 6:50:45 in the video).
We want to acknowledge and thank the many people who delegated in support of better, more reliable transit. To which we added… cycling, of course.
Bonjour,
Thank you for the opportunity to speak.
I used to take route number 7, when buses would consistently, reliably be unreliable. I remember a time when Councillor Troster and I would tweet from our respective buses that our bus was stuck in car traffic (we were going in opposite directions).
In the current report, solutions that are being proposed are still based on standard motorized traffic patterns, with morning rush hour going North and evening going South. And the perceived assumption that everyone comes to shop by car on Bank Street.
I’m here to add Bike Ottawa’s voice in support of better, more reliable public transit on Bank Street. Bike Ottawa supports a strong reliable transit network. People who bike also take transit.
Imagine for a moment if you could get to your PWHL or Atletico Ottawa game easily, safely and reliably using a combination of biking and transit. Biking could be the first or last mile of your trip or both, or anything in-between. Biking and transit go hand in glove and allow for a nimble way of getting around.
Bike Ottawa supports a more ambitious plan than what is proposed in the report. A plan that will move more people, reliably, on Bank Street. For that to happen, one needs to have permanent, dedicated bus lanes in both directions, preferably 24/7.
According to the report, modelling shows potentially greater congestion with bus lanes along the corridor “within acceptable limits” (read, congestion caused by motorized traffic). It does, and I quote, “assume minimal growth in background traffic due to modal shift”.
Let’s talk about modal shift for a minute. Giving people other options than driving, in addition to transit, will help relieve congestion.
We’re happy to see the addition of a cycle track coming off the canal bridge. This will make a difference. As it currently is, you’re throwing people on bikes into a lion’s cage. Now we’d like to see dollars attached to this. When will this be budgeted for? We ask that this be included in the next budget.
Now the report talks about directing staff to “investigate opportunities to improve North-South cycling routes parallel to Bank Street”, Percy, Craig, Lyon and O’Connor. While that’s all nice and good, this is vague language. There are no immediate actions tied to this. No timeline attached to a future study of these cycling routes. We ask the City to commit to a timeline so we can measure progress. And to funding. Because without funding, nothing will happen.
Thank you.