August Puranauth, an organizer for the transit advocacy organization TTCriders, has been canvassing near Bathurst station, hearing from transit riders who sorely want faster and more frequent buses.
The red paint needed for bus lanes is a quick fix to bus service issues, they said, versus waiting for years (or over a decade in the case of the Eglinton LRT) for transit infrastructure to be built.
“People are frustrated with how crowded and slow transit is on Dufferin and Bathurst, and these are long overdue. It’s been called for years by advocates and riders,” Puranauth said.
McMullen said he would be more open to the lanes if they aren’t implemented all day, but just during rush hour. Winer, also, wants the city to find a way to keep her on-street parking spots if the lanes are implemented. Otherwise, they both said, the bus lanes could spell doom for their businesses.
And while local city councillors are open to discussion and compromise, it can only go so far.
There are nuances in this debate, says Coun. Josh Matlow, whose ward includes Bathurst street, from just north of Dupont Street all the way up to Eglinton Avenue.
“I think what’s really important is to, first of all, understand their concerns. And then, where somebody’s factually wrong, you don’t capitulate to that. … But where there are reasonable concerns that can be addressed, you work on that.”
Matlow said he has his own concerns about how cars will make left turns and added that city staff need to address residents’ concerns before city council moves ahead with the dedicated bus lanes.
He said he shares the cynicism people have about how the TTC and the city have handled city-building projects in the past, like the King Street transit’s priority corridor or the snow-clearing debacle from the winter.
”(City staff) do a lot of things right, but they don’t do everything right,” Matlow said. “And that’s why, the debate, the discussion shouldn’t just be about whether or not we should make transit faster, it’s about how it’s done.”
Dianne Saxe, the councillor for Winer and McMullen’s ward, said it will be difficult to accommodate what the businesses are seeking.
Bathurst is a heavily used route, Saxe said, one that has boardings as early as 6 a.m. and as late as 10 p.m. — meaning the lanes would be in use nearly all hours of the day. And having only partial lanes would be more difficult to enforce, she said, as drivers would have to learn when they are allowed to drive in the red, dedicated bus lanes.
“What research shows really clearly is that it often happens that business owners dramatically overestimate the amount of their business that comes from people in cars, and dramatically underestimate the amount that comes to people who walk in or cycle or take transit,” Saxe said, pointing to studies that have come out of the installation of the Bloor street bike lanes.Saxe’s argument is backed up by the science, U of T civil engineering professor Eric Miller said.
He pointed to a 2019 study that looked at the implementation of the Bloor street bike lanes, where 136 on-street parking spots were removed. That study showed monthly customer spending and the number of customers to storefronts on Bloor increased after the bike lanes were put in place.
It comes down to execution, Miller said, and taking full advantage of the benefits provided when taking over a lane of traffic to get transit moving.
“It’s a win for cars as well,” Miller added. “The big problem with on-street parking is you have this stationary hunk of metal that is effectively taking away much of your lane.”
The RapidTO plans have been in the works for years, Saxe said, and the complaints are simultaneous. Some, from transit advocates who think these are long overdue, and that city hall has taken too long to get them painted, and others who say the city is moving too fast.
“We need (the bus lanes). We need them badly,” Saxe said. “And we have to do everything we possibly can to minimize the pain for the small number of people who are really adversely affected. That’s my focus.”
Meanwhile, Winer, made her final plea.
“I, as a transit rider, don’t have any desire for a bus lane,” she said. “When I first entered this community, when I drove up Bathurst street, there was crap on both sides. It was a lot of darkened doorways. And now they’re lit and they’re lively. Let’s keep it that way.”
