Ottawa is so cooked on return to office. We spent an hour and 10 minutes in traffic for what’s a 12 minute drive outside of rush hour. Makes me sad that OC Transpo has gotten so much worse, and people are not being allowed to work from home more often. God help all of us in September.

Point #3 in Sutcliffe's 48 point plan to improve traffic flow: "Ensure pathways, multi-use pathways (MUPs), and cycling infrastructure (including bike lanes) are well maintained, swept and not unnecessarily impacted by nearby construction." Um, shouldn't the city be doing all those things already?

Where was this energy at council last week? $20 million of the $30 million RTO plan is going to expanding a suburban park and ride. No additional service for major downtown routes like the 6, 7, and 14. No significant urban bus priority measures like bus lanes.

Went to the beach in a very car dependent area in Southern Ontario and a person that joined us spent 30 minutes looking for parking. All the parking was free. If parking was priced based on demand, finding parking would be easy!

I can’t recommend The Years of Lyndon Johnson book series by Robert Caro highly enough. Just finished the 2nd book and so far it’s shaping up to be even better than The Power Broker. The best piece of media I’ve ever read on the extent some people will go to acquire power.

The next Ottawa Urbanism Book Club will be July 27 at 6:15pm at Sunnyside Public Library. We’ll be discussing Emergent Tokyo: Designing the Spontaneous City by Jorge Almazán. Reading is optional and RSVP is not required.

I mostly like Ottawa’s E-Scooter system, but I can’t stop thinking about how much better bike share would be. Makes me sad that Ottawa is showing no real urgency in setting up a bike share program. Most major Canadian cities have bike share, we should too!

Finally visited the Chinatown Street Seats early this morning and man it’s nice. Best part is definitely the ping pong table, the shade is a nice touch too.

“Bike Share Toronto is an impressive success story: a public policy that for a relative pittance has blossomed into a substantial way to move people around Ontario’s biggest city in a way that doesn’t add to car congestion or require billion-dollar decades-long construction projects.”

ANALYSIS: Bike Share Toronto is a huge success. Imagine if we tried harder | TVO Today

The network already moves more passengers than some major transit lines, for a fraction of the cost. It could be so much more.

tvo.org

We're honored to be recognized by an organization doing such important work such as @ecologyottawa.bsky.social ! This couldn't have been done without all of the members who helped out along the way. None of this is a one person job! Thank you to all of our wonderful members!

Ecology Ottawa@ecologyottawa.bsky.social · 3mo ago

@markomiljusevic.bsky.social @strongtownsottawa.ca

I spoke with CBC about parking in Centretown, why we need to build more housing downtown, and why we need to price parking based on supply and demand. www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-p...

Lot full: why parking downtown Ottawa is such a gong show | This is Ottawa | CBC Podcasts | CBC Listen

Demand for downtown parking exceeds supply on certain weekday mornings. To score a spot, some commuters have a strategy. Robyn Bresnahan hung out in some downtown parking garages to hear why commuters...

cbc.ca

CBC had a great episode about parking in downtown! We need to give people good alternatives to driving so that we can get people to where they need to go. Parking is some of the worst land usage we can have in the downtown core of the city. www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-p...

Lot full: why parking downtown Ottawa is such a gong show | This is Ottawa | CBC Podcasts | CBC Listen

Demand for downtown parking exceeds supply on certain weekday mornings. To score a spot, some commuters have a strategy. Robyn Bresnahan hung out in some downtown parking garages to hear why commuters...

cbc.ca

Such an amazing turnout last night at our monthly meeting! Great conversations about next steps for bus lanes on Bank Street, the upcoming election, and our future advocacy! If you're looking to join in on the fun, check out our next events at luma.com/STO We look forward to seeing you there!

Disappointment at council today. Council just passed a motion from Councillor Menard for the Bank Street bus lane study which will restrict bus lanes even further from staff's proposed 3 hours to 2 hours. This means we will get no data about how parking affects bus flow in the area.

After 30+ people showed up to the Public Works commission last week in support of expanding bus lanes on Bank Street, City Council has now passed a motion to reduce the scope of the bus lanes even further This motion was passed with absolutely no debate Passed without a single question

Strong Towns Ottawa@strongtownsottawa.ca · 4mo ago

Disappointment at council today. Council just passed a motion from Councillor Menard for the Bank Street bus lane study which will restrict bus lanes even further from staff's proposed 3 hours to 2 hours. This means we will get no data about how parking affects bus flow in the area.

Here’s my issue: this is obvious that it makes sense: there’s zero reasons to not implement this. Why does it take grassroots orgs, deputations, endless discussions, debates and reviews to implement good policy, make decisive leadership decisions. We are buried in bureaucracy for the sake of 1/

Strong Towns Ottawa@strongtownsottawa.ca · 4mo ago

We have sent a letter out with our 4 key asks for the upcoming Bus Lanes on Bank Street report coming to PWIC on March 30th. You can read the asks here : strongtownsottawa.ca/2026/03/24/o... The letter is also attached in the post. Want to delegate? strongtownsottawa.ca/2026/03/23/f...

We have sent a letter out with our 4 key asks for the upcoming Bus Lanes on Bank Street report coming to PWIC on March 30th. You can read the asks here : strongtownsottawa.ca/2026/03/24/o... The letter is also attached in the post. Want to delegate? strongtownsottawa.ca/2026/03/23/f...

Thank you to the @natashabaldin.bsky.social at the Citizen for covering such an important issue! We need reliable transit not only to get people to and from work, but at all times of day! Students at Carleton, mothers picking up groceries, kids getting to the movies ottawacitizen.com/news/bus-lan...

Bus-only lanes to be considered for Bank Street in the Glebe

A report about the proposed 15-month pilot project will go before a City of Ottawa committee on March 30.

ottawacitizen.com

The current plan calls for changes not to take effect for more than a year from now (Summer 2027) This is unacceptable when we are facing a severe bus shortage and bus reliability crisis. Any bus wasted sitting in traffic means a bus cancelled elsewhere in the network.

Strong Towns Ottawa@strongtownsottawa.ca · 5mo ago

City staff has released the agenda for the PWIC March 30th meeting, where Bank Street Bus Lanes will be discussed (item 5.2). Please consider signing up to delegate in favour of expanding bus lanes further. On-street parking is extremely underused here and is standing in the way of real progress.

City staff has released the agenda for the PWIC March 30th meeting, where Bank Street Bus Lanes will be discussed (item 5.2). Please consider signing up to delegate in favour of expanding bus lanes further. On-street parking is extremely underused here and is standing in the way of real progress.

Spoke with CTV Ottawa about the need for bus lanes on Bank Street. “We really think that considering the transit crisis right now in Ottawa, that bus lanes are a really great way to speed up transit and to reduce costs,” www.ctvnews.ca/ottawa/artic...

Ottawa to test bus-only lanes on Bank Street in the Glebe

Three-hour bus-only lanes will be installed on a stretch of Bank Street to improve OC Transpo movement on a busy transit route in the Glebe.

ctvnews.ca

The Centretown Community Association has sent a letter suggesting changes and improvements to the Bank Street Transit Study. As the busiest bus corridor in Ottawa, Bank street needs to prioritize moving people over cars.

An amazing member of ours put together this graphic that really encapsulates perfectly the situation on Bank Street. There is only so much space available, and we must use it as efficiently as possible. Parking isn't that. Please sign up to delegate on March 30th in favour of bus lanes!

Apologies, just wanted to correct a small thing. The second figure, 25, is not how the owners got there, but actually what the owners THINK that customers primarily use to get to their stores. So again just showing that owners heavily overestimate how many customers drive.

Strong Towns Ottawa@strongtownsottawa.ca · 5mo ago

The Glebe BIA had a report done about the area. We think this image perfectly encapsulates the reason for hesitancy by the business owners to get rid of parking. While 86% of the respondents who come to shop said they get there by means other than driving, 94% of the owners said they drove.

The Glebe BIA had a report done about the area. We think this image perfectly encapsulates the reason for hesitancy by the business owners to get rid of parking. While 86% of the respondents who come to shop said they get there by means other than driving, 94% of the owners said they drove.

One thing I feel ought to be discussed more is the fact that basically all rural and suburban places in the US are subsidized by cities. They resent cities. They insult cities. They elect politicians who abuse cities. But none of them could survive without cities.

Thanks to Mary Huang from the Centretown Community Association for coming to Finance Committee today, to voice support for the city’s acquisition of the hotel at O’Connor and Gladstone for family transitional housing.

This is amazing news. As someone who lives in Centretown, I’m happy to say “yes in my backyard!”

Ariel Troster@arieltroster.com · 5mo ago

It is great news that the city is buying the hotel at Gladstone + O’Connor to use as transitional housing for families — many of whom are currently holed up in awful motel rooms. These suites have full kitchens and the building is close to schools, the Y and transit. www.ctvnews.ca/ottawa/artic...

This is a very clever bit of writing from @robattrell.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy on the evolution of suburbs really in North America through the post-war period, and how they can be made better.

The Programmed Decay of Suburban Affordability - The New Orleans

You may have heard the term “ens**ttification“, sometimes used to describe what happens as big tech platforms like Amazon or Facebook have evolved their business practices to churn out ever increasing...

theneworleans.ca

The agenda for February's Public Works and Infrastructure Committee is up and still no Bank Street bus lanes. It was supposed to be on the agenda for this meeting, but has been delayed yet again. This "pilot project" has been in the works for over 4 years, and is now over a year behind schedule.