A long stretch of Bathurst Street in Toronto has a transit problem.
According to City staff, more than 35,000 TTC riders use the 7 Bathurst bus and 511 Bathurst streetcar. However, both modes often arrive late as they mix with vehicles sharing the road.
“People on Bathurst are facing overcrowded buses, street cars and unpredictable wait times,” said August Puranauth, with TTC Riders. “It’s not just transit riders impacted by this but drivers as well.”
Business owners, along Bathurst Street just south of Dupont Street, agree.
“Currently, there are issues. Absolutely.” said Jaclyn Verhoef who owns Tattoo People. “The city needs to create a plan to deal with that.”
But there’s a major disagreement on how to solve the issues. Under a current proposal by the City of Toronto, along with the TTC, there are plans to create dedicated transit and cycling lanes from Bloor Street West to Lakeshore Boulevard West.
“As we’ve seen in other parts of the city, these dedicated transit lanes improve reliability and service,” Puranauth explained.
To create those lanes, the city will have to get rid of vehicle parking lanes, which business owners say their customers and delivery workers rely on.
“Our businesses need the ability to have customers park their car,” local business owner Marco Santaguida explained. “What about the Uber drivers and delivery services? Where will they park the car to pick up packages? I receive at least two tractor trailers full of goods every week on Bathurst Street. Where are these tractor trailers going to park?”
Melanie Gallant owns a registered massage therapy clinic on Bathurst Street and says the removal of parking will greatly impact her clients.
“Many of them have mobility issues, my question is how are you removing access to a vulnerable population that would needs these services? Basically, you’re saying that you can no longer access these services in your community at the clinic of your choice.”
Business owners say they’ve felt blindsided by the city’s push to create these lanes.
“We’re not against improving transit, I use transit,” Gallant explained. “What we’re asking is to involve us in the conversation and not just rush this through without considering our needs.”
The owners have joined together and are calling on the city to create transit lanes, but only during certain parts of the day, not 24/7.
“As it is right now, you can’t park between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Do priority lanes during those rush hours when there is no parking already allowed,” Santaguida said.
“We think that’s a viable solution to at least look at with us,” Verhoef added.
Those in support of current plans aren’t sold on that idea and say the dedicated lanes will benefit everyone by freeing up traffic on the street and increasing foot traffic for businesses.
“People who bike and take transit, shop as well. They also go to the businesses,” Puranauth said. “When you make transit more reliable on these corridors, more people will use transit. More people will actually find time out of their day to stop by and visit a shop.”
The plans have yet to be approved by city council. Currently the public is invited to take part in surveys to give input until the end of the month. Both sides are rushing to be heard.
“These are much, much needed improvements. Commute times could be slashed by a lot for transit riders,” Puranauth said.
“We are absolutely in line with the city to improve transit, and that is the agreement among the whole community here, however, not at the cost of our livelihoods and our communities,” Verhoef added.
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